# RNA scanning by regulatory endonucleases - Resubmission - 1

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2020 · $400,395

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
DESCRIPTION: The long-term goal of this research project is to understand the basic
principles that govern mRNA degradation, a process that has long been known to play a key
role in controlling gene expression in all organisms. In Escherichia coli and related bacterial
species, the ribonuclease with the greatest influence on mRNA lifetimes is RNase E, an
endonuclease with a strong preference for decay intermediates that bear a single phosphate at
the 5′ terminus. Recent evidence indicates that RNase E locates its cleavage sites in
monophosphorylated RNA by scanning linearly downstream from the 5′ end along RNA
segments that are single-stranded. The immediate objectives of this research project are to
elucidate the mechanism of RNase E scanning, the enzyme characteristics that make it
possible, the features of RNA that facilitate or impede it, and the impact of this process on gene
expression. Achieving these objectives will require the use of standard molecular biological,
biochemical, and genetic methods as well as single-molecule FRET. The knowledge gained
from these studies will provide fundamental insights into a novel aspect of gene regulation that
is likely to be important for bacterial pathogenesis.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9901585
- **Project number:** 5R01GM123124-03
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** JOEL G BELASCO
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $400,395
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-04-06 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9901585

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9901585, RNA scanning by regulatory endonucleases - Resubmission - 1 (5R01GM123124-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9901585. Licensed CC0.

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