RNA synthesis and degradation during preferential inhibition of protein synthesis by cobalt chloride in Escherichia coli K-12.

It has been observed that growth of Escherichia coli cells are inhibited when treated with cobalt chloride (300 microM). It has also been shown that CoCl2 preferentially inhibits translation without inhibiting the process of transcription (1, 2, 8). We report here, that during treatment of E. coli cells with CoCl2, both messenger RNA and stable RNA synthesis is slowed down about 2.5 folds. The rate of degradation of mRNA also decreases and both chemical and functional half-life of mRNA increases about 2.5 folds in Co-treated cells. This clearly shows that the process of transcription is also affected while translation is preferentially inhibited during CoCl2 treatment.