RNase J1 is the major 5'-to-3' bacterial exoribonuclease. We demonstrate that in its absence, RNA polymerases (RNAPs) are redistributed on DNA, with increased RNAP occupancy on some genes without a parallel increase in transcriptional output. This suggests that some of these RNAPs represent stalled, non-transcribing complexes. We show that RNase J1 is able to resolve these stalled RNAP complexes by a "torpedo" mechanism, whereby RNase J1 degrades the nascent RNA and causes the transcription complex to disassemble upon collision with RNAP. A heterologous enzyme, yeast Xrn1 (5'-to-3' exonuclease), is less efficient than RNase J1 in resolving stalled Bacillus subtilis RNAP, suggesting that the effect is RNase-specific. Our results thus reveal a novel general principle, whereby an RNase can participate in genome-wide surveillance of stalled RNAP complexes, preventing potentially deleterious transcription-replication collisions.

中文翻译：

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枯草芽孢杆菌中的鱼雷效应：RNase J1 解决停滞的转录复合物。


RNase J1 是主要的 5'-to-3' 细菌核糖核酸外切酶。我们证明，在其缺失的情况下，RNA 聚合酶 (RNAP) 在 DNA 上重新分布，一些基因上 RNAP 的占用量增加，但转录输出却没有平行增加。这表明其中一些 RNAP 代表停滞的非转录复合物。我们表明，RNase J1 能够通过“鱼雷”机制解决这些停滞的 RNAP 复合物，从而 RNase J1 降解新生 RNA，并导致转录复合物在与 RNAP 碰撞时分解。异源酶酵母 Xrn1（5' 至 3' 核酸外切酶）在解决停滞的枯草芽孢杆菌 RNAP 方面的效率低于 RNase J1，这表明该效果是 RNase 特异性的。因此，我们的结果揭示了一个新的一般原理，即 RNase 可以参与对停滞的 RNAP 复合物的全基因组监视，从而防止潜在有害的转录复制碰撞。