RNA Degradation in Staphylococcus aureus: Diversity of Ribonucleases and Their Impact

Table 1

Ribonucleases in S. aureus.

Ribonuclease	Gene	Function^a	Amino acid identity between NCTC8325 and B. subtilis 168 orthologs^c	Amino acid identity between NCTC8325 and E. coli MG1655 orthologs^c	Nomenclature N315	Nomenclature NCTC8325	Essentiality^b
RNase III	rnc	ds-RNA endonuclease*	0.49	0.34	SA1076	SAOUHSC_01203	N
Mini-III	mrnC	ds-RNA endonuclease	0.56	None	SA0489	SAOUHSC_00512	N^b
RNase Y	rny/cvfA	ss-RNA endonuclease*	0.69	None	SA1129	SAOUHSC_01263	N
RNase J1	rnjA	Strong 5′-3′ exonuclease activity*; ss-RNA endonuclease	0.67	None	SA0940	SAOUHSC_01035	N**
RNase J2	rnjB	Weak 5′-3′ exonuclease activity*; ss-RNA endonuclease?	0.50	None	SA1118	SAOUHSC_01252	N**
RNase P	rnpA	Endonucleolytic cleavage of RNA, removing 5′-extranucleotides from tRNA precursor with rnpB ribozyme*	0.49	0.24	SA2502	SAOUHSC_03054	Y
RNase Z	Rnz	Endonucleolytic cleavage of RNA involved in removing extra 3′ nucleotides from the tRNA precursor	0.45	0.41	SA1335	SAOUHSC_01598	Y
RNase M5	rnmV	ds-RNA endonuclease, maturation of 5S rRNA	0.53	None	SA0450	SAOUHSC_00463	N
PNPase	pnpA	3′-5′ Exonuclease*	0.68	0.50	SA1117	SAOUHSC_01251	N
RNase R	Rnr	3′-5′ Exonuclease	0.55	0.37	SA0735	SAOUHSC_00803	Y
YhaM	yhaM	3′-5′ Exonuclease	0.52	None	SA1660	SAOUHSC_01973	N
RNase HI	ypqD/rnhA	RNase HI-family protein of unknown function	0.33	None	SA1266	SAOUHSC_01443	N
RNase HII	rnhB	Endonuclease, degradation of RNA/DNA duplexes	0.47	0.44	SA1087	SAOUHSC_01215	N
RNase HIII	rnhC	Endonuclease, degradation of RNA/DNA duplexes	0.46	None	SA0987	SAOUHSC_01095	N
NanoRNase A	nrnA	Oligoribonuclease, 3′,5′-bisphosphate nucleotidase	0.49	None	SA1526	SAOUHSC_01812	N

Function: *demonstrated experimentally; function based on results of B. subtilis or E. coli studies.
^bEssentiality: Y demonstrated experimentally using transposon mutagenesis [51]; N not essential demonstrated experimentally, N^b not essential based on B. subtilis studies. **RNase J1 and J2 are essential at 42°C but not at lower temperatures [51, 52].
^cAccession numbers: B. subtilis 168, NC_000964.3; E. coli MG1655; NC_000913.3.