Project description:Clostridium tetani produces the tetanus-causing tetanus toxin (TeNT), one of the most powerful bacterial toxins known to humankind. The regulation of toxin expression is complex and involves the alternative sigma factor TetR as well as other regulators. Here, we identified a novel regulatory molecule, a non-coding small regulatory RNA (sRNA), located in the 3’ untranslated region of the tent gene. We show with an antisense RNA approach and recombinant expression of the tent locus with and without the sRNA in C. tetani strains that the sRNA acts as a negative regulator of TeNT expression and modulates the growth pattern of C. tetani. Its possible role is to limit tetanus toxin levels in the exponential growth phase; thus, it might interlock bacterial growth and toxin production.
Project description:We used RNA-seq to determine Clostridium tetani gene expression changes in response to culture conditions and time. Changes in response to time were more pronounced than those in response to culture conditions. The tetanus toxin gene is always highly expressed but does show expression changes between culture conditions. These results may become part of an approach to reduce animal testing during vaccine manufacturing.
