Lig RNA thermometer is a ''cis''-acting non-coding RNA element that controls ''ligA'' and ''ligB'' gene expression in '' Leptospira interrogans'' in response to temperature change. The lipoproteins LigA and LigB stimulate adhesion of the element and then hosting proteins. The RNA that composes of 175-nucleotide

5'UTR The 5′ untranslated region (also known as 5′ UTR, leader sequence, transcript leader, or leader RNA) is the region of a messenger RNA (mRNA) that is directly upstream from the initiation codon. This region is important for the regulation of t ...

and the first six ''lig''

codons The genetic code is the set of rules used by living cells to translate information encoded within genetic material ( DNA or RNA sequences of nucleotide triplets, or codons) into proteins. Translation is accomplished by the ribosome, which links ...

(identical in ''ligA'' and ''ligB'') folds into two distinct-stem loop structures. ''Lig'' expression is limited by these double-stranded RNA structures because they occludes the

ribosome Ribosomes ( ) are macromolecular machines, found within all cells, that perform biological protein synthesis (mRNA translation). Ribosomes link amino acids together in the order specified by the codons of messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules to ...

-binding site. At higher temperatures, the ribosome binding site is exposed to promote translation initiation.

References

RNA Non-coding RNA {{molecular-cell-biology-stub