“…For example, it has long been known that Hfq stabilizes A-tracts and oligo-(A) tails, which likely happens via the distal surface and arguably in a cooperative manner 16 , 33 - 35 , 42 , 55 - 57 . Furthermore, the proximal binding site can protect the 3′-oligo-(U) ends of Rho-independent transcripts from the attack of PNPase, 50 and uridine-rich sequences that are present in the interior of both mRNAs and sRNAs and are protected from RNaseE probably because they interact with the additional RNA-binding surfaces of Hfq 16 , 34 , 51 . In particular, many sRNAs are strongly destabilized in the absence of Hfq 22 , 23 , 52 …”