<b>Promoter‐independent cold‐shock induction of <i>cspA</i> and its derepression at 37°C by mRNA stabilization</b>

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<jats:p> <jats:bold>The gene for CspA, the major cold‐shock protein of <jats:italic>Escherichia coli</jats:italic> is known to be dramatically induced upon temperature downshift. Here, we report that three‐base substitutions around the Shine–Dalgarno sequence in the 159‐base 5′‐untranslated region of the <jats:italic>cspA</jats:italic> mRNA stabilizes the mRNA 150‐fold, resulting in constitutive expression of <jats:italic>cspA</jats:italic> at 37°C. This stabilization was found to be at least partially due to resistance against RNase E degradation. The cold‐shock induction of <jats:italic>cspA</jats:italic> was also achieved by exchanging its promoter with the non‐cold‐shock <jats:italic>lpp</jats:italic> promoter. The results presented indicate that the <jats:italic>cspA</jats:italic> gene is efficiently transcribed even at 37°C. However, the translation of the <jats:italic>cspA</jats:italic> mRNA is blocked because of its extreme instability at 37°C. The presented results also demonstrate that the <jats:italic>cspA</jats:italic> gene is constitutively transcribed at all temperatures; however, its expression at 37°C is prevented by destabilizing its mRNA.</jats:bold> </jats:p>

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