ArticlePLoS genetics2012
The essential function of B. subtilis RNase III is to silence foreign toxin genes.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed, 103 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bacillus subtilis expressing double-stranded RNA induced RNA interference in Tribolium castaneum.Pest management science · 2026Article
- Design of orthogonal and portable RNA devices for post-transcriptional regulation by reverse engineering type I toxin-antitoxin systems.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
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- Construction of antibiotic-free riboflavin producer inSynthetic and systems biotechnology · 2025Article
- A small regulatory RNA controls antibiotic adaptation inAntimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2025Article
- Unconventional mRNA processing and degradation pathways for the polycistronic yrzI (spyTA) mRNA in Bacillus subtilis.FEBS letters · 2025Article
- A high-resolution view of RNA endonuclease cleavage in Bacillus subtilis.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Type I toxin-antitoxin systems in bacteria: from regulation to biological functions.EcoSal Plus · 2024Review
- Disentangling the pseudoknots of toxin translation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Let There Be Light: Genome Reduction EnablesACS synthetic biology · 2023Article
- Selective RNA Processing and Stabilization are Multi-Layer and Stoichiometric Regulators of Gene Expression in Escherichia coli.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2023Article
- Processing and decay of 6S-1 and 6S-2 RNAs inRNA (New York, N.Y.) · 2023Article
- Structural and functional characterization of MrpR, the master repressor of the Bacillus subtilis prophage SPβ.Nucleic acids research · 2023Article
- Methodologies for bacterial ribonuclease characterization using RNA-seq.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2023Review
- Bacterial toxin-antitoxin systems: Novel insights on toxin activation across populations and experimental shortcomings.Current research in microbial sciences · 2023Review
- Biology and evolution of bacterial toxin-antitoxin systems.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2022Review
- Review
- RNase III, Ribosome Biogenesis and Beyond.Microorganisms · 2021Review
- sRNA23, a novel small RNA, regulates to the pathogenesis ofVirulence · 2021Article
- RNase III-mediated processing of aeLife · 2021Article
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
RNase III-related enzymes play key roles in cleaving double-stranded RNA in many biological systems. Among the best-known are RNase III itself, involved in ribosomal RNA maturation and mRNA turnover in bacteria, and Drosha and Dicer, which play critical roles in the production of micro (mi)-RNAs and small interfering (si)-RNAs in eukaryotes. Although RNase III has important cellular functions in bacteria, its gene is generally not essential, with the remarkable exception of that of Bacillus subtilis. Here we show that the essential role of RNase III in this organism is to protect it from the expression of toxin genes borne by two prophages, Skin and SPβ, through antisense RNA. Thus, while a growing number of organisms that use RNase III or its homologs as part of a viral defense mechanism, B. subtilis requires RNase III for viral accommodation to the point where the presence of the enzyme is essential for cell survival. We identify txpA and yonT as the two toxin-encoding mRNAs of Skin and SPβ that are sensitive to RNase III. We further explore the mechanism of RNase III-mediated decay of the txpA mRNA when paired to its antisense RNA RatA, both in vivo and in vitro.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.