Subunit Composition of Ribosome in the yqgF Mutant Is Deficient in pre-16S rRNA Processing of Escherichia coli

Abstract

<i>Escherichia coli</i> 16S, 23S, and 5S ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) are transcribed as a single primary transcript, which is subsequently processed into mature rRNAs by several RNases. Three RNases (RNase III, RNase E, and RNase G) were reported to function in processing the 5′-leader of precursor 16S rRNA (pre-16S rRNA). Previously, we showed that a novel essential YqgF is involved in that processing. Here we investigated the ribosome subunits of the <i>yqgF</i>^ts mutant by LC-MS/MS. The mutant ribosome had decreased copy numbers of ribosome protein S1, suggesting that the <i>yqgF</i> gene enables incorporation of ribosomal protein S1 into ribosome by processing of the 5′-end of pre-16S rRNA. The ribosome protein S1 is essential for translation in <i>E. coli</i>; therefore, our results suggest that YqgF converts the inactive form of newly synthesized ribosome into the active form at the final step of ribosome assembly.