Term-seq reveals abundant ribo-regulation of antibiotics resistance in bacteria

How bacteria switch between tracks Bacterial riboswitches prevent the formation of full-length messenger RNA, and hence proteins, via transcriptional termination in response to metabolites. However, identifying riboswitches within the genome has previously required comparative analysis, which may miss species- and environmentally specific responses. Dar et al. developed a method called term-seq to document all riboswitches in a bacterial genome, as well as their metabolite counterparts (see the Perspective by Sommer and Suess). The method revealed a role for pathogenic bacterial riboswitches in antibiotic resistance. Thus, transcription may be one way pathogens fend off antibiotic attack. Science , this issue p. 10.1126/science.aad9822 ; see also p. 144