Abigail R. Rapiejko

This study defines the interactions among mycobacterial mRNA degradation enzymes and identifies the functional roles of RNase E's intrinsically disordered regions in degradation processes.

This study identifies cleavage requirements and specificities of mycobacterial RNase E using in vitro assays, showing substrate length, 5' phosphate preference, and cleavage position dependencies.

This study identifies MutT4 in Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the RppH homolog, showing it forms condensates that facilitate mRNA degradation and enhance stress resistance.

This study defines the role of RNase E in mRNA degradation in Mycolicibacterium smegmatis, showing it limits degradation of 89% of protein-coding genes and has distinct sequence preferences compared to gram-negative bacteria.