Vibrio parahaemolyticus Strain ATCC 17802 Contains Two Transcriptionally Active 16S rRNA Genes and neither degrades preferentially in starvation

Abstract

Vibrio parahaemolyticus species type strain ATCC 18702T contains two 16S rRNA gene (rrs) types in the 11 ribosomal operons. The differences between these two rrs types are concentrated in a variable stem loop and can be detected by the heteroduplexes produced after 16S rDNA PCR amplification of that region. In the present study we explored the existence of the same polymorphism in their 16S rRNA. We found that in exponentially growing cells the two rrs types were expressed. Furthermore, in cells under starvation conditions, although most RNAs were degraded, both 16S rRNA types were still present. These findings showed that both rrs types are being expressed in ATCC 18702T and in starvation conditions neither type degrades preferentially.