Quantitative analysis of Xoo sRNAs suggests metabolic importance

Quantitative analysis of little-understood small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) in the plant pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pathovar oryzae (Xoo) reveal the sequences may be important in metabolic processes.

A team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and National Center for Plant Gene Research undertook quantitative analysis of Xoo sRNAs in order to better understand the roles they play in cellular processes.

They verified eight sRNAs in all across the Xoo genome, using proteomics to detect various metabolic roles for the code sequences.

Writing in BMC Genomics, they assert: "This work represents the first comprehensive screen and functional analysis of sRNAs in rice pathogenic bacteria and facilitates future studies on sRNA-mediated regulatory networks in this important phytopathogen."

Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis analysis was able to reveal that some sRNAs detected were associated with more than one biochemical or physiological process.

BMC Genomics disseminates findings in the fields of proteomics, functional genomics and genome-level analysis.