ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2021
Mfd regulates RNA polymerase association with hard-to-transcribe regions in vivo, especially those with structured RNAs.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mfd interacts with RNA polymerase to modulate flagellum-dependent motility, chemotaxis, and population heterogeneity in the stationary phase ofJournal of bacteriology · 2026Article
- Genetic constraints on protein loop evolution: out-of-frame stop codons limitFrontiers in molecular biosciences · 2026Article
- Genome-wide strand-specific UV mutagenesis inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Antimutator and Mutational Spectrum Effects Can Combine to Reduce Evolutionary Potential in Escherichia coli ΔnudJ.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Mfd deficiency decreases the abundance of complete transcripts of sporulation genes and alters sporogenesis and the structure of dormantFrontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- RNA polymerase stalling-derived genome instability underlies ribosomal antibiotic efficacy and resistance evolution.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Article
- Processing of stalled replication forks in Bacillus subtilis.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2024Review
- Oxidative stress drives mutagenesis through transcription-coupled repair in bacteria.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- When push comes to shove - RNA polymerase and DNA-bound protein roadblocks.Biophysical reviews · 2023Review
- Pathogenic bacteria experience pervasive RNA polymerase backtracking during infection.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- RNA polymerase pausing, stalling and bypass during transcription of damaged DNA: from molecular basis to functional consequences.Nucleic acids research · 2022Review
- Single-molecule studies of helicases and translocases in prokaryotic genome-maintenance pathways.DNA repair · 2021Review
- Multiple classes and isoforms of the RNA polymerase recycling motor protein HelD.MicrobiologyOpen · 2021Article
- Mfd - at the crossroads of bacterial DNA repair, transcriptional regulation and molecular evolvability.Transcription · 2021Review
- Non-B DNA-Forming Motifs Promote Mfd-Dependent Stationary-Phase Mutagenesis inMicroorganisms · 2021Article
- Mfd Affects Global Transcription and the Physiology of StressedFrontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
- The Transcription-Repair Coupling Factor Mfd Prevents and Promotes Mutagenesis in a Context-Dependent Manner.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2021Review
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
RNA polymerase (RNAP) encounters various roadblocks during transcription. These obstacles can impede RNAP movement and influence transcription, ultimately necessitating the activity of RNAP-associated factors. One such factor is the bacterial protein Mfd, a highly conserved DNA translocase and evolvability factor that interacts with RNAP. Although Mfd is thought to function primarily in the repair of DNA lesions that stall RNAP, increasing evidence suggests that it may also be important for transcription regulation. However, this is yet to be fully characterized. To shed light on Mfd's in vivo functions, we identified the chromosomal regions where it associates. We analyzed Mfd's impact on RNAP association and transcription regulation genome-wide. We found that Mfd represses RNAP association at many chromosomal regions. We found that these regions show increased RNAP pausing, suggesting that they are hard to transcribe. Interestingly, we noticed that the majority of the regions where Mfd regulates transcription contain highly structured regulatory RNAs. The RNAs identified regulate a myriad of biological processes, ranging from metabolism to transfer RNA regulation to toxin-antitoxin (TA) functions. We found that cells lacking Mfd are highly sensitive to toxin overexpression. Finally, we found that Mfd promotes mutagenesis in at least one toxin gene, suggesting that its function in regulating transcription may promote evolution of certain TA systems and other regions containing strong RNA secondary structures. We conclude that Mfd is an RNAP cofactor that is important, and at times critical, for transcription regulation at hard-to-transcribe regions, especially those that express structured regulatory RNAs.
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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.