Mining RNA-seq data reveals the massive regulon of GcvB small RNA and its physiological significance in maintaining amino acid homeostasis in Escherichia coli.

Bacterial small RNAs regulate the expression of multiple genes through imperfect base-pairing with target mRNAs mediated by RNA chaperone proteins such as Hfq. GcvB is the master sRNA regulator of amino acid metabolism and transport in a wide range of Gram-negative bacteria. Recently, independent RNA-seq approaches identified a plethora of transcripts interacting with GcvB in Escherichia coli.