Post-Transcriptional Regulation of Gene Expression in Yersinia Species

Abstract

Proper regulation of gene expression is required by bacterial pathogens to respond to continually changing environmental conditions and the host response during the infectious process. While transcriptional regulation is perhaps the most well understood form of controlling gene expression, recent studies have demonstrated the importance of post-transcriptional mechanisms of gene regulation that allow for more refined management of the bacterial response to host conditions. Yersinia species of bacteria are known to use various forms of post-transcriptional regulation for control of many virulence-associated genes. These include regulation by cis- and trans-acting small non-coding RNAs, RNA-binding proteins, RNases, and thermoswitches. The effects of these and other regulatory mechanisms on Yersinia physiology can be profound and have been shown to influence type III secretion, motility, biofilm formation, host cell invasion, intracellular survival and replication, and more. In this review, we discuss these and other post-transcriptional mechanisms and their influence on virulence gene regulation, with a particular emphasis on how these processes influence the virulence of Yersinia in the host.

Absence of YbeY RNase compromises the growth and enhances the virulence plasmid gene expression of Yersinia enterocolitica O:3

“…Two of them, csrB and csrC, are Hfqindependent and were previously implicated in the global carbon storage regulatory system (Liu & Romeo, 1997;Schiano & Lathem, 2012). The gcvB sRNA has been shown to repress dppA, a gene encoding the periplasmic-binding protein component of the dipeptide transport system in Y. pestis and is known to bind Hfq (Koo et al, 2011).…”

“…Due to the fact that the role of non-coding RNA particles in the gene regulation of Yersinia species has been long established (Schiano & Lathem, 2012) and YbeY was implicated into sRNA regulation, the possible role of YbeY in sRNA regulation was investigated. Based on data obtained from the repository for bacterial sRNA (Li et al, 2013) for the serotype O:8 a list of predicted sRNAs was prepared.…”

“…Virulence determinants include specific adhesion and invasion proteins, inhibitors of phagocytosis, surface structures interacting with circulating host defence components as well as toxins. It is well established that the biosynthesis and expression of these factors undergo specific and precise regulation that takes place at both the transcriptional and translational levels, yet the regulation mechanisms are poorly understood (Al-Hendy et al, 1991;Schiano & Lathem, 2012).…”

The pathogenic Yersiniae – advances in the understanding of physiology and virulence

“…Schiano and Lathem (2012) provide examples of small ncRNAs and various other post-transcriptional mechanisms in the regulation of virulence gene expression in Yersinia. They even propose that subtle sequence and/or regulatory differences found Conditions that threaten the integrity of the bacterial envelope are collectively termed extracytoplasmic stresses (ECS).…”

Inhibition of Phagocytic Killing of Escherichia coli in Drosophila Hemocytes by RNA Chaperone Hfq

“…Hfq of Escherichia coli is a protein of 102 aa residues, and its orthologs exist in a number of Gram-negative and -positive bacteria constituting the Hfq family of proteins (14)(15)(16)(17). Hfq has been shown to play a role in the virulence of uropathogenic E. coli (18) and other bacterial species (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35). However, the mechanism involved in Hfq-mediated changes in the virulence of bacteria remains unclear.…”