Fig. 5: Co-translational mRNA decay is conserved across prokaryotes.

Taxonomic tree of investigated species. Circles, from inside to outside, grey (number of assigned reads); red (strength of 3 nt periodicity), frame preference (F0, beige; F1, green; F2, light blue); identification of selected enzymes involved in RNA degradation at genus-level RNJA, RNY and RNE/G; ribonucleases from E/G protein family; accumulation of 5′P endpoints 13–17 nt before Ile codons after 30 min MUP treatment; cleavage motifs 4 nt around 5′P endpoints of selected species (skipping Bacillota with no cleavage preference (Fig. 1c)). Overall, 58 genera were present in samples from cultured bacteria and complex environments, including vaginal swabs, faeces, faecal cultures and compost. In complex samples, species with at least 1,000 reads in the coding regions (300 in the case of compost) were considered, and respective genera analysed (Methods).