Bacterial small RNA Bacterial small RNAs are small RNAs produced by bacteria; they are 50- to 500-nucleotide non-coding RNA molecules, highly structured and containing several stem-loops. Numerous sRNAs have been identified using both computational analysis and laborat ...
s (sRNA) are an important class of regulatory molecules in bacteria such as ''
Brucella
''Brucella'' is a genus of Gram-negative bacterium, bacteria, named after David Bruce (microbiologist), David Bruce (1855–1931). They are small (0.5 to 0.7 by 0.6 to 1.5 μm), non-Bacterial capsule, encapsulated, non-motile, facultatively ...
''. They are often bound to the chaperone protein Hfq, which allows them to interact with mRNA(s). In ''Brucella suis 1330'' RNA sequencing identified a novel list of 33 sRNAs and 62 Hfq-associated mRNAs. In ''Brucella melitensis'' eight novel sRNA genes were identified using bioinformatic and experimental approach. One of them BSR0602 was found to modulate the intracellular survival of ''B. melitensis''. In another large-scale
deep sequencing
In genetics, coverage is one of several measures of the depth or completeness of DNA sequencing, and is more specifically expressed in any of the following terms:
*Sequence coverage (or depth) is the number of unique reads that include a given nuc ...
study 1321 sRNAs were identified in ''B. melitensis.'' BSR0441 sRNA was further investigated in this study and shown to play role in the intracellular survival. sRNA BM-sr0117 from ''Brucella melitensis'' was identified and shown to be bound to and cleaved by Bm-RNase III. AbcR and AbcR2 (orthologs of
SmrC15 and SmrC16) were studied ''
B. abortus''. Seven novel sRNAs were validated and their interaction with a putative target sequence was verified in ''
B. abortus''.
RNA chaperone Hfq link to ''Brucella'' virulence
Hfq protein
The Hfq protein (also known as HF-I protein) encoded by the ''hfq'' gene was discovered in 1968 as an ''Escherichia coli'' host factor that was essential for replication of the bacteriophage Qβ. It is now clear that Hfq is an abundant bacterial R ...
regulates ''virB''
operon
In genetics, an operon is a functioning unit of DNA containing a cluster of genes under the control of a single promoter. The genes are transcribed together into an mRNA strand and either translated together in the cytoplasm, or undergo splic ...
which is required for full virulence of the bacteria. It can bind to 5' untranslated region of ''virB'' transcriptional regulator BabR and mediate its effects on ''babR'' expression.
See also
*
''Bacillus subtilis'' BSR sRNAs
*
''Escherichia coli'' sRNA
*
''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' sRNA
*
Non-coding RNA
A non-coding RNA (ncRNA) is a functional RNA molecule that is not Translation (genetics), translated into a protein. The DNA sequence from which a functional non-coding RNA is transcribed is often called an RNA gene. Abundant and functionally imp ...
*
''Xanthomonas'' sRNA
References
{{reflist
Non-coding RNA