Contributions of the Hfq protein to translation regulation by small noncoding RNAs binding to the mRNA coding sequence.

The bacterial Sm-like protein Hfq affects the regulation of translation by small noncoding RNAs (sRNAs). In this way, Hfq participates in the cell adaptation to environmental stress, regulation of cellular metabolism, and bacterial virulence. The majority of known sRNAs bind complementary sequences in the 5'-untranslated mRNA regions. However, recent studies have shown that sRNAs can also target the mRNA coding sequence, even far downstream of the AUG start codon. In this review, we discuss how Hfq contributes to the translation regulation by those sRNAs which bind to the mRNA coding sequence.