Dataset Information

Small RNA genes expressed from Staphylococcus aureus genomic and pathogenicity islands with specific expression among pathogenic strains.

ABSTRACT: Small RNA (sRNA) genes are expressed in all organisms, primarily as regulators of translation and message stability. We have developed comparative genomic approaches to identify sRNAs that are expressed by Staphylococcus aureus, the most common cause of hospital-acquired infections. This study represents an in-depth analysis of the RNome of a Gram-positive bacterium. A set of sRNAs candidates were identified in silico within intergenic regions, and their expression levels were monitored by using microarrays and confirmed by Northern blot hybridizations. Two sRNAs were also detected directly from purification and RNA sequence determination. In total, at least 12 sRNAs are expressed from the S. aureus genome, five from the core genome and seven from pathogenicity islands that confer virulence and antibiotic resistance. Three sRNAs are present in multiple (two to five) copies. For the sRNAs that are conserved throughout the bacterial phylogeny, their secondary structures were inferred by phylogenetic comparative methods. In vitro binding assays indicate that one sRNA encoded within a pathogenicity island is a trans-encoded antisense RNA regulating the expression of target genes at the posttranscriptional level. Some of these RNAs show large variations of expression among pathogenic strains, suggesting that they are involved in the regulation of staphylococcal virulence.

SUBMITTER: Pichon C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1242290 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Small RNA genes expressed from Staphylococcus aureus genomic and pathogenicity islands with specific expression among pathogenic strains.

Pichon Christophe C Felden Brice B

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20050923 40

Small RNA (sRNA) genes are expressed in all organisms, primarily as regulators of translation and message stability. We have developed comparative genomic approaches to identify sRNAs that are expressed by Staphylococcus aureus, the most common cause of hospital-acquired infections. This study represents an in-depth analysis of the RNome of a Gram-positive bacterium. A set of sRNAs candidates were identified in silico within intergenic regions, and their expression levels were monitored by using ...[more]

PMID: 16183745

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Project description:Staphylococcus agnetis is an emerging pathogen in chickens but has been most commonly isolated from sub-clinical mastitis in bovines. Previous whole-genome analyses for known virulence genes failed to identify determinants for the switch from mild ductal infections in cattle to severe infections in poultry. We now report identification of a family of 15 kbp, 17-19 gene mobile genetic elements (MGEs) specific to chicken osteomyelitis and dermatitis isolates of S. agnetis. These MGEs can be present in multiple copies per genome. The MGE has been vectored on a Staphylococcus phage that separately lysogenized two S. agnetis osteomyelitis strains. The S. agnetis genome from a broiler breeder case of ulcerative dermatitis contains 2 orthologs of this MGE, not associated with a prophage. BLASTn and phylogenetic analyses show that there are closely related intact MGEs found in genomes of S. aureus. The genome from a 1980s isolate from chickens in Ireland contains 3 copies of this MGE. More recent chicken isolates descended from that genome (Poland 2009, Oklahoma 2010, and Arkansas 2018) contain 2 to 4 related copies. Many of the genes of this MGE can be identified in disparate regions of the genomes of other chicken isolates of S. aureus. BLAST searches of the NCBI databases detect no similar MGEs outside of S. aureus and S. agnetis. These MGEs encode no proteins related to those produced by Staphylococcus aureus Pathogenicity Islands, which have been associated with the transition of S. aureus from human to chicken hosts. Other than mobilization functions, most of the genes in these new MGEs annotate as hypothetical proteins. The MGEs we describe appear to represent a new family of Chromosomal Islands (CIs) shared amongst S. agnetis and S. aureus. Further work is needed to understand the role of these CIs/MGEs in pathogenesis. Analysis of horizontal transfer of genetic elements between isolates and species of Staphylococci provides clues to evolution of host-pathogen interactions as well as revealing critical determinants for animal welfare and human diseases.

Project description:Although four of the five Salmonella pathogenicity islands (SPIs) have been characterized in detail for Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, and the fifth has been characterized for Salmonella enterica serovar Dublin, there have been limited studies to examine them in detail in a range of pathogenic serovars of S. enterica. The aim of this study was to examine these regions, shown to be crucial in virulence, in pathogenic serovars to identify any major deletions or insertions that may explain variation in virulence and provide further understanding of the elements involved in the evolution of these regions. Multiple strains of each of the 13 serovars were compared by Southern blot hybridization using a series of probes that together encompassed the full length of all five SPIs. With the exception of serovar Typhimurium, all strains of the same serovar were identical in all five SPIs. Those serovars that differed from serovar Typhimurium in SPI-1 to SPI-4 and from serovar Dublin in SPI-5 were examined in more detail in the variant regions by PCR, and restriction endonuclease digestion and/or DNA sequencing. While most variation in hybridization patterns was attributable to loss or gain of single restriction endonuclease cleavage sites, three regions, in SPI-1, SPI-3, and SPI-5, had differences due to major insertions or deletions. In SPI-1 the avrA gene was replaced by a 200-base fragment in three serovars, as reported previously. In SPI-5, two serovars had acquired an insertion with similarity to the pagJ and pagK genes between pipC and pipD. In SPI-3 the genes sugR and rhuM were deleted in most serovars and in some were replaced by sequences that were very similar to either the Escherichia coli fimbrial operon, flanked by two distinct insertion sequence elements, or to the E. coli retron phage PhiR73. The distribution of these differences suggests that there have been a number of relatively recent horizontal transfers of genes into S. enterica and that in some cases the same event has occurred in multiple lineages of S. enterica. Thus, it seems that insertion sequences and retron phages are likely to be involved in continuing evolution of the pathogenicity islands of pathogenic Salmonella serovars.

Dataset Information

Small RNA genes expressed from Staphylococcus aureus genomic and pathogenicity islands with specific expression among pathogenic strains.

Publications

Small RNA genes expressed from Staphylococcus aureus genomic and pathogenicity islands with specific expression among pathogenic strains.

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