Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 25, 2026

MS2-Affinity Purification Coupled with RNA Sequencing in Gram-Positive Bacteria
Published on: February 23, 2021
Conservation analysis of small RNA genes in Escherichia coli
Yong Zhang1, Zhihua Zhang, Lunjiang Ling
1Bioinformatics Laboratory, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Motivation:
Small RNA (sRNA) genes in Escherichia coli have been in focus recently, as 44 out of 55 experimentally confirmed sRNA genes have been precisely located in the genome. The object of this study is to analyze quantitatively the conservation of these sRNA genes and compare it with the conservation of protein-encoding genes, function-unknown regions and tRNA genes.
Results:
The results show that within an evolutionary distance of 0.26, both sRNA genes and protein-encoding genes display a similar tendency in their degrees of conservation at the nucleotide level. In addition, the conservation of sRNA genes is much stronger than function-unknown regions, but much weaker than tRNA genes. Based on the conservation of studied sRNA genes, we also give clues to estimate the total number of sRNA genes in E.coli.
Supplementary Information:
Supplementary information is available at http://www.bioinfo.org.cn/SM/sRNAconservation.htm
Related Concept Videos
Translational Regulation
Types of RNA
Three main types of RNA are involved in protein synthesis: messenger RNA (mRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), and ribosomal RNA (rRNA). These RNAs perform diverse functions and can be broadly classified as protein-coding or non-coding RNA. Non-coding RNAs play important roles in the regulation of gene expression in response to developmental and environmental changes. Non-coding RNAs in prokaryotes can be manipulated to develop more effective antibacterial drugs for human or animal use.
RNA...
RNA Stability
Ribosomal RNA Synthesis
Ribosome biogenesis begins with the synthesis of 5S and 45S pre-rRNAs by distinct RNA polymerases. The primary transcripts are extensively processed and modified before they are bound and folded by ribosomal proteins and assembly factors,...
Gene Evolution - Fast or Slow?
In contrast, regions which code...

