Cis and trans control of genes by a pH-responsive 5´ UTR
Final Report Abstract
The cumulative results of this project have given molecular insights in how pathogenic bacteria use RNA-based regulatory mechanisms to adapt to highly relevant stress conditions. Our studies report new discoveries; the first study answers the question, how environmental alkaline pH affects RNA folding; the second study describes how a prophage encoded riboregulator affects bacterial genome stability. The so far unpublished results on IsrP sRNA have formed the basis for a follow-up project that aims at understanding when and how island-specific sRNAs contribute to bacteria pathogenesis with a focus on Salmonella-host interaction. This has been a very productive collaboration in which the work program was quickly adjusted to results. For example, the original work program aimed at investigating the trans effects of short PRE species on Salmonella genes. Further studies indicated that these effects were indistinct and we turned to investigate the function and the mechanism of action of a riboregulator with dual function in cis and in trans.
Publications
- (2014) Changes in transcriptional pausing modify the folding dynamics of the pH-responsive RNA element. Nucleic Acids Research 42(1):622-30
Nechooshtan G, Elgrably-Weiss M, Altuvia S
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkt868) - (2016) Gifsy-1 Prophage IsrK with Dual Function as Small and Messenger RNA Modulates Vital Bacterial Machineries. PLoS Genetics 12(4):e1005975
Hershko-Shalev T, Odenheimer-Bergman A, Elgrably-Weiss M, Ben-Zvi T, Govindarajan S, Seri H, Papenfort K, Vogel J, Altuvia S
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005975)
