Bacterial transcription articles from across Nature Portfolio

Bacterial protein Rof (Rho-off) directly interacts with bacterial factor Rho and inhibits Rho-dependent transcription termination. Here, authors report cryo-EM structure of Rho-Rof antitermination complex and reveal their role in bacterial pathogenesis.

Transcriptional plasticity (TP) governs gene expression variability, yet remains unexplored in prokaryotes. This study examines Mycobacterium tuberculosis genes’ TP via RNA-seq meta-analysis, uncovering genetic and functional traits impacting mycobacterial TP.

The mechanisms underlying adaptation of bacteria to changing environmental conditions remain poorly understood. Here, the authors show bacteria using lysine acetylation of transcriptional regulators to adjust gene expression to changing conditions.

Translation actively dislodges stalled transcription elongation complexes (ECs) from damaged DNA, which enables lesion repair and restoration of transcription activity, and coupled ribosomes discriminate between active ECs and stalled ECs, ensuring destruction of only the latter.

High-throughput bacterial transcriptomics of 409 drug–microorganism interactions reveals mechanistic insights into drug-mediated microbiota shifts.

A novel Aequorivita bacterium isolated from deep sea sediments in Antarctica could increase cold tolerance of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, transcriptomics revealed peptidoglycan rearrangement as key response to cold stress.

This study reports how fluid flow is linked to changes in gene expression in bacterial pathogens.

Two recent studies report the structural basis of transcription–translation coupling in Escherichia coli, and a further study reports functionally uncoupled transcription–translation in Bacillus subtilis.

Acquisition of RNA into CRISPR arrays allows the recording of transcriptional dynamics in cells.

Bacterial specialized metabolites are bioactive molecules with antibacterial or other activities that are of tremendous clinical use. New work has revealed that transcript elongation is a distinct and widespread point of secondary metabolic gene regulation, which has implications for expanding drug discovery.