Tran Peterson et al The core interaction network of transcription elongation factors is broadly maintained across diverse bacteria

The role of Rho-dependent termination appears to be less important in many Gram-positive bacteria, including some that do not encode for Rho. Moreover, transcription and translation remain uncoupled within Bacillus subtilis and many other Gram-positive bacteria. Therefore, it is unclear whether the interaction network for E. coli elongation factors also occurs in B. subtilis and other Gram-positive bacteria.

To investigate this, we identified boxA-like sequences upstream of 16S and 23S genes in Bacillus species and found they associate directly with NusB. We also found that B. subtilis S10 associates directly with both NusB and NusG, and that Rho can also associate with NusG. Together, these data demonstrate that B. subtilis elongation factors form an interaction network similar to E. coli, which in theory could participate in transcription-translation coupling or formation of the rrn ATC.