Today is an RNA day (with a few dashes of manuscript work thrown in for flavour).

The Sxy protein is required for the induction of competence genes in H. influenzae. We are working to dissect the mechanisms by which RNA 2º structure regulates sxy expression, to ultimately identify the signals that stimulate competence. I have already found that mutations that destabilize sxy RNA 2º structure result in increased Sxy protein production. Is this because the mutations allow for increased sxy transcription or increased translatability (or a bit of both)? I have prepped cell pellets from sxy mutant strains and now I will extract the RNA (26 samples in all)... tedious, but the results from quantifying sxy RNA levels will be most rewarding.