Abstract
Small non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been identified and characterized in various organisms including cyanobacteria. To gain insight into the roles of ncRNAs in environmental adaptation, we searched for low-CO2 responsive ncRNAs in Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, using DNA microarrays that have oligonucleotide spots for both strands of ORFs and intergenic regions. Ten intergenic regions, whose expression levels are high and whose expression patterns are different from the adjacent ORFs, were selected as candidates of the regions harboring ncRNA genes. Low-CO2 inducible small transcripts were detected by Northan blot analysis in three of these intergenic regions, suggesting the occurrence of ncRNAs involved in adaptation to low-CO2 conditions. We are currently determining the transcription start point and the size of each of the putative ncRNAs to design antisense RNA to interfere with their expression.
