Dataset Information

The impact of Hfq-mediated sRNA-mRNA interactome on the virulence of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT: Description An elaborate network of sRNA-mRNA interactions controls the pathogenicity of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli. Small RNAs (sRNAs) exert their regulation posttranscriptionally by base pairing with their target mRNAs, often in association with the RNA chaperone protein Hfq. Here, integrating RNA-seq–based technologies and bioinformatics, we deciphered the Hfq-mediated sRNA-target interactome of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC). The emerging network comprises hundreds of sRNA-mRNA pairs, including mRNAs of virulence-associated genes interacting with known sRNAs encoded within the core genome, as well as with newly found sRNAs encoded within pathogenicity islands. Some of the sRNAs affect multiple virulence genes, suggesting they function as hubs of virulence control. We further analyzed one such sRNA hub, MgrR, and one of its targets identified here, the major virulence-associated chaperon, cesT. We show that MgrR adjusts the level of EPEC cytotoxicity via regulation of CesT expression. Our results reveal an elaborate sRNA-mRNA interactome controlling the pathogenicity of EPEC and reinforce a role for sRNAs in the control of pathogen-host interaction.

SUBMITTER: Pearl Mizrahi S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8550237 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Significance Hfq is a key posttranscriptional regulator that modulates base-pairing interactions between sRNAs and their target mRNAs. Although there are more than 100 different sRNAs in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, information on their regulatory targets was available for only a few. Here, we identify the targets of 89 Hfq-associated sRNAs in this important opportunistic pathogen. Furthermore, we show that a single sRNA called PhrS dominates the RNA–RNA interaction landscape in this organism by pairing with approximately 800 targets. Our study therefore provides insight into the potential regulatory roles for many sRNAs in P. aeruginosa and identifies an sRNA with an acutely outsized influence on the RNA–RNA interactions occurring on Hfq in this bacterium. The RNA chaperone Hfq plays important regulatory roles in many bacteria by facilitating the base pairing between small RNAs (sRNAs) and their cognate mRNA targets. In the gram-negative opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, over a hundred putative sRNAs have been identified but for most, their regulatory targets remained unknown. Using RIL-seq with Hfq in P. aeruginosa, we identified the mRNA targets for dozens of previously known and unknown sRNAs. Strikingly, hundreds of the RNA–RNA interactions we discovered involved PhrS. This sRNA was thought to mediate its effects by pairing with a single target mRNA and regulating the abundance of the transcription regulator MvfR required for the synthesis of the quorum sensing signal PQS. We present evidence that PhrS controls many transcripts by pairing with them directly and employs a two-tiered mechanism for governing PQS synthesis that involves control of an additional transcription regulator called AntR. Our findings in P. aeruginosa expand the repertoire of targets for previously known sRNAs, reveal potential regulatory targets for previously unknown sRNAs, and suggest that PhrS may be a keystone sRNA with the ability to pair with an unusually large number of transcripts in this organism.

Dataset Information

The impact of Hfq-mediated sRNA-mRNA interactome on the virulence of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets