Abstract:

The RNA chaperone Hfq is widely distributed in bacteria and first discovered in Escherichia coli as a necessary host factor required for Qβ bacteriophage replication. Deletion of hfq can affect pleiotropic phenotypes, studies on microbial metabolism and its global regulation have been attracted much attention. A large number of studies has shown that Hfq is involved in the interaction between non-coding RNA and their target mRNAs, and resulted in affecting the stability of mRNAs, and then plays its regulatory role. This paper introduced the protein structure of Hfq, the typical phenotypes of hfq mutant; and documented the molecular mechanism of Hfq for metabolic regulation and regulation of its own activity. This paper had guiding significance for comprehensive and thorough understanding Hfq proteins functional diversity and regulation mechanism in microorganism.

Key words: Hfq, rpoS mRNA, translational activation, CsrA, Crc

摘要：

RNA分子伴侣蛋白Hfq广泛存在于细菌中，最早在大肠杆菌Qβ噬菌体的RNA复制过程中作为必需的宿主因子而被发现。hfq基因的缺失会造成细菌多种表型的变化，对Hfq的全局性调控作用的研究，是当前微生物代谢调控研究中的热点之一。近年来，大量的研究表明Hfq能够通过参与非编码RNA与其靶标mRNAs的互作过程，从而影响mRNAs的稳定性，进而发挥其调控作用。介绍了Hfq蛋白的结构、hfq突变产生的典型表型，并阐述了Hfq参与代谢调控的分子机制以及自身的活性调控，对全面深入了解微生物中Hfq蛋白的功能多样性及调控机制具有指导意义。

关键词: Hfq;rpoS mRNA;翻译激活;CsrA;Crc