NsiR3, a nitrogen stress-inducible small RNA, regulates proline oxidase expression in the cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. PCC 7120

Abstract

NsiR3 (nitrogen stress-inducible RNA 3) is a small noncoding RNA strongly conserved in heterocyst-forming cyanobacteria. In Nostoc sp. PCC 7120, transcription of NsiR3 is induced by nitrogen starvation and depends on the global nitrogen regulator NtcA. A conserved NtcA-binding site is centered around position −42.5 with respect to the transcription start site of NsiR3 homologs, and NtcA binds in vitro to a DNA fragment containing this sequence. In the absence of combined nitrogen, NsiR3 expression is induced in all cells along the Nostoc filament but much more strongly in heterocysts, differentiated cells devoted to nitrogen fixation. Co-expression analysis of transcriptomic data obtained from microarrays hybridized with RNA obtained from Nostoc wild-type or mutant strains grown in the presence of ammonium or in the absence of combined nitrogen revealed that the expression profile of gene putA (proline oxidase) correlates negatively with that of NsiR3. Using a heterologous system in Escherichia coli, we show that NsiR3 binds to the 5′-UTR of putA mRNA, resulting in reduced expression of a reporter gene. Overexpression of NsiR3 in Nostoc resulted in strong reduction of putA mRNA accumulation, further supporting the negative regulation of putA by NsiR3. The higher expression of NsiR3 in heterocysts versus vegetative cells of the N2-fixing filament could contribute to the previously described absence of putA mRNA and of the catabolic pathway to produce glutamate from arginine via proline specifically in heterocysts. Post-transcriptional regulation by NsiR3 represents an indirect NtcA-operated regulatory mechanism of putA expression. Database: Microarray data are available in GEO database under accession numbers GSE120377 and GSE150191.