Dataset Information

Comprehensive analysis reveals how single nucleotides contribute to noncoding RNA function in bacterial quorum sensing.

ABSTRACT: Five homologous noncoding small RNAs (sRNAs), called the Qrr1-5 sRNAs, function in the Vibrio harveyi quorum-sensing cascade to drive its operation. Qrr1-5 use four different regulatory mechanisms to control the expression of ? 20 mRNA targets. Little is known about the roles individual nucleotides play in mRNA target selection, in determining regulatory mechanism, or in defining Qrr potency and dynamics of target regulation. To identify the nucleotides vital for Qrr function, we developed a method we call RSort-Seq that combines saturating mutagenesis, fluorescence-activated cell sorting, high-throughput sequencing, and mutual information theory to explore the role that every nucleotide in Qrr4 plays in regulation of two mRNA targets, luxR and luxO. Companion biochemical assays allowed us to assign specific regulatory functions/underlying molecular mechanisms to each important base. This strategy yielded a regional map of nucleotides in Qrr4 vital for stability, Hfq interaction, stem-loop formation, and base pairing to both luxR and luxO, to luxR only, and to luxO only. In terms of nucleotides critical for sRNA function, the RSort-Seq analysis provided strikingly different results from those predicted by commonly used regulatory RNA-folding algorithms. This approach is applicable to any RNA-RNA interaction, including sRNAs in other bacteria and regulatory RNAs in higher organisms.

SUBMITTER: Rutherford ST

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4640798 | biostudies-other | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Comprehensive analysis reveals how single nucleotides contribute to noncoding RNA function in bacterial quorum sensing.

Rutherford Steven T ST Valastyan Julie S JS Taillefumier Thibaud T Wingreen Ned S NS Bassler Bonnie L BL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20151019 44

Five homologous noncoding small RNAs (sRNAs), called the Qrr1-5 sRNAs, function in the Vibrio harveyi quorum-sensing cascade to drive its operation. Qrr1-5 use four different regulatory mechanisms to control the expression of ∼ 20 mRNA targets. Little is known about the roles individual nucleotides play in mRNA target selection, in determining regulatory mechanism, or in defining Qrr potency and dynamics of target regulation. To identify the nucleotides vital for Qrr function, we developed a met ...[more]

PMID: 26483489

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Project description:Bacteria have fascinating and diverse social lives. They display coordinated group behaviors regulated by quorum-sensing systems that detect the density of other bacteria around them. A key example of such group behavior is biofilm formation, in which communities of cells attach to a surface and envelope themselves in secreted polymers. Curiously, after reaching high cell density, some bacterial species activate polymer secretion, whereas others terminate polymer secretion. Here, we investigate this striking variation in the first evolutionary model of quorum sensing in biofilms. We use detailed individual-based simulations to investigate evolutionary competitions between strains that differ in their polymer production and quorum-sensing phenotypes. The benefit of activating polymer secretion at high cell density is relatively straightforward: secretion starts upon biofilm formation, allowing strains to push their lineages into nutrient-rich areas and suffocate neighboring cells. But why use quorum sensing to terminate polymer secretion at high cell density? We find that deactivating polymer production in biofilms can yield an advantage by redirecting resources into growth, but that this advantage occurs only in a limited time window. We predict, therefore, that down-regulation of polymer secretion at high cell density will evolve when it can coincide with dispersal events, but it will be disfavored in long-lived (chronic) biofilms with sustained competition among strains. Our model suggests that the observed variation in quorum-sensing behavior can be linked to the differing requirements of bacteria in chronic versus acute biofilm infections. This is well illustrated by the case of Vibrio cholerae, which competes within biofilms by polymer secretion, terminates polymer secretion at high cell density, and induces an acute disease course that ends with mass dispersal from the host. More generally, this work shows that the balance of competition within and among biofilms can be pivotal in the evolution of quorum sensing.

Dataset Information

Comprehensive analysis reveals how single nucleotides contribute to noncoding RNA function in bacterial quorum sensing.

Publications

Comprehensive analysis reveals how single nucleotides contribute to noncoding RNA function in bacterial quorum sensing.

Similar Datasets

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