Genome-wide Analysis of the Distribution of Riboswitches and Function Analyses of the Corresponding Downstream Genes in Prokaryotes

摘要

Background: Riboswitches are structured elements that usually reside in the noncoding regions of mRNAs, with which various ligands bind to control a wide variety of downstream gene expressions. To date, more than twenty different classes of riboswitches have been characterized to sense various metabolites, including purines and their derivatives, coenzymes, amino acids, and metal ions, etc.