Pseudouridine Synthase RsuA Confers a Survival Advantage to Bacteria under Streptomycin Stress.

Bacterial ribosome small subunit rRNA (16S rRNA) contains 11 nucleotide modifications scattered throughout all its domains. The 16S rRNA pseudouridylation enzyme, RsuA, which modifies U516, is a survival protein essential for bacterial survival under stress conditions. A comparison of the growth curves of wildtype and RsuA knock-out strains illustrates that RsuA renders a survival advantage to bacteria under streptomycin stress.

Pseudouridine Synthase RsuA Captures an Assembly Intermediate that Is Stabilized by Ribosomal Protein S17.

The ribosome is a large ribonucleoprotein complex that synthesizes protein in all living organisms. Ribosome biogenesis is a complex process that requires synchronization of various cellular events, including ribosomal RNA (rRNA) transcription, ribosome assembly, and processing and post-transcriptional modification of rRNA. Ribosome biogenesis is fine-tuned with various assembly factors, possibly including nucleotide modification enzymes.

Discovery of a novel small molecular peptide that disrupts helix 34 of bacterial ribosomal RNA.

Despite the advances in modern medicine, antibiotic resistance is a persistent and growing threat to the world. Thus, the discovery and development of novel antibiotics have become crucial to combat multi-drug resistant pathogens. The goal of our research is to discover a small molecular peptide that can disrupt the synthesis of new ribosomes.