In vitro sRNA Transcription and Binding

The in vitro transcription of sRNA was performed as previously described (22 (link)). The sRNA ReaL was synthesized using the Riboprobe System-T7 (Promega) from PCR product amplified from PA14 chromosomal DNA with the primers listed in Table S1 according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The RNA was purified by isopropanol precipitation and refolded by heating at 90°C for 10 min and then cooling down naturally at room temperature for 30 min. One hundred nanograms of the purified RNA was mixed with indicated amounts of purified YbeY or GFP in the binding buffer (10 mM Tris-HCl [pH 7.5], 5 mM MgCl₂, 50 mM KCl, 10% glycerol, 1 U recombinant RNase inhibitor [TaKaRa]) and incubated on ice for 30 min. Fifteen microliters of each sample was loaded onto a nondenaturing 8% polyacrylamide gel. The electrophoresis was performed at 100 V for 150 min in 0.5× TBE buffer on ice. The RNA bands were visualized after staining with Gel-red (Biotium) for 10 min.