OxyS RNA

OxyS RNA is a small non-coding RNA which is induced in response to oxidative stress in Escherichia coli. This RNA acts as a global regulator to activate or repress the expression of as many as 40 genes, by an antisense mechanism, including the fhlA-encoded transcriptional activator and the rpoS-encoded sigma(s) subunit of RNA polymerase.^[1] OxyS is bound by the Hfq protein, that increases the OxyS RNA interaction with its target messages.^[2][3] Binding to Hfq alters the conformation of OxyS.^[4] The 109 nucleotide RNA is thought to be composed of three stem-loops.

OxyS RNA
Predicted secondary structure and sequence conservation of OxyS
Identifiers
Symbol	OxyS
Rfam	RF00035
Other data
RNA type	Gene; sRNA
Domain(s)	Bacteria
SO	SO:0000384
PDB structures	PDBe

Target genes

A number of additional targets were predicted and verified using microarray analysis.^[5] These are listed below:

• yobF – confirmed by Northern analysis
• yaiZ
• rumA
• wrbA – confirmed by Northern analysis
• ybaY – confirmed by Northern analysis

Furthermore, the mRNA encoded by the nusG gene is a direct target of OxyS.^[6]