The Sxy 5' UTR element is an RNA element that controls expression of the sxy gene in H. influenzae. The sxy gene is a transcription factor (also known as TfoX) that regulates competence which is the ability of bacteria to take up DNA from their environment. When the sxy gene is deleted the bacterium loses the ability to express genes in the competence regulon. Cameron et al. recently showed that mutations in the 5' end of the sxy gene lead to hypercompetance. They showed that this region formed an RNA secondary structure that occludes the Shine-Dalgarno sequence. Mutations that interfere with the stability of this secondary structure lead to increased translation of sxy followed by upregulation of the competence regulon.
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