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Updated: May 11, 2026

Targeting Cysteine Thiols for in Vitro Site-specific Glycosylation of Recombinant Proteins
Published on: October 4, 2017
Glycols modulate terminator stem stability and ligand-dependency of a glycine riboswitch
Kokoro Hamachi1, Hikari Hayashi, Miyuki Shimamura
1Department of Biological Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, 6-3-1 Niijuku, Katsushika-ku, Tokyo 125-8585, Japan.
Abstract:
The Bacillus subtilis glycine riboswitch comprises tandem glycine-binding aptamers and a putative terminator stem followed by the gcvT operon. Gene expression is regulated via the sensing of glycine. However, we found that the riboswitch behaves in a "glycine-independent" manner in the presence of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and ethylene glycol. The effect is related to the formation of a terminator stem within the expression platform under such conditions. The results revealed that increasing PEG stabilized the structure of the terminator stem. By contrast, the addition of ethylene glycol destabilized the terminator stem. PEG and ethylene glycol have opposite effects on transcription as well as on stable terminator stem formation. The glycine-independency of the riboswitch and the effects of such glycols might shed light on the evolution of riboswitches.
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