Impact of the small RNA RyhB on growth, physiology and heterologous protein expression in Escherichia coli

The small noncoding RNA RyhB is a regulator of iron homeostasis in Escherichia coli. During iron limitation, it downregulates the expression of a number of iron-containing proteins, including enzymes of the tricarboxylic acid cycle and the respiratory chain. Because this infers a potential for RyhB to limit energy metabolism and biosynthetic capacity, the effect of knocking out ryhB on the physiology and heterologous protein productivity of E. coli has been analyzed. During iron limitation, induced either through insufficient extracellular supply or through overexpression of an iron-containing protein, ryhB mutants showed unaltered growth and substrate consumption. They did, however, exhibit significantly lowered acetate production rates. Plasmid-based expression of green fluorescent protein and the heterologous Vitreoscilla hemoglobin VHb was negatively affected by the ryhB knock-out.