Abstract:[Objective] We explored the cause of cell growth inhibition by antisense RNA mediated nonessential gene silencing of rpsF gene in Escherichia coli.[Methods]The 41-230 bp fragment around 5' end of gene rpsF was reversely cloned into antisense expression vector pHN678,which is flanked with a paired-termini.The recombinant plasmid was named pHNF.Then it was transformed into E.coli to produce antisense RNA strain E.coli/pHNF.Antisense RNA expression was induced by isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG),the difference of liquid growth phenotype was identified between E.coli/pHNF and the control strain E.coli/pHN678; and gene transcriptional level was measured by Real time RT-PCR.[Results]We obtained one antisense RNA strain targeted rpsF.We found that the reduced growth rate of this strain was positively related to the IPTG concentration. When IPTG was 100 μmol/L,the cell growth was not inhibited whereas the mRNA amount of rpsF had decreased by 36%,and mRNA of essential gene rpsR in the same operon did not decayed.However,when IPTG reached 200 μmol/L,the cell growth was obviously inhibited and rpsR mRNA was reduced by 12%.[Conclusion] The essential gene transcription level of rpsR decreases with the nonessential gene silencing of rpsF in the same operon,and leads to the growth inhibition of E.coli/pHNF.