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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Antigen-Capture Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay for Specific Detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae
Published on: February 24, 2023
Mycoplasma gallisepticum as the first analyzed bacterium in which RNA is not polyadenylated
Victoria Portnoy1, Gadi Schuster
1Department of Biology, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
Abstract:
The addition of poly(A)-tails to RNA is a phenomenon common to almost all organisms. In addition to most eukaryotic mRNAs possessing a stable poly(A)-tail, RNA is polyadenylated as part of a degradation mechanism in prokaryotes, organelles, and the eukaryotic nucleus. To date, only very few systems have been described wherein RNA is metabolized without polyadenylation, including several archaea and yeast mitochondria. The minimal genome of the parasitic bacteria, Mycoplasma, does not encode homologs of any known polyadenylating enzyme. Here, we analyze polyadenylation in Mycoplasma gallisepticum. Our results suggest this organism as being the first described bacterium in which RNA is not polyadenylated.
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