Published In
Journal of Bacteriology
Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
8-1-2019
Subjects
Genomics, Non-coding RNA, Bacterial genomes
Abstract
Coxiella burnetii is an obligate intracellular gammaproteobacterium and zoonotic agent of Q fever. We previously identified 15 small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) of C. burnetii. One of them, CbsR12 (Coxiella b urnetii small RNA 12), is highly transcribed during axenic growth and becomes more prominent during infection of cultured mammalian cells. Secondary structure predictions of CbsR12 revealed four putative CsrA-binding sites in stem loops with consensus AGGA/ANGGA motifs. We subsequently determined that CbsR12 binds to recombinant C. burnetii CsrA-2, but not CsrA-1, proteins in vitro. Moreover, through a combination of in vitro and cell culture assays, we identified several in-trans mRNA targets of CbsR12. Of these, we determined that CbsR12 binds and upregulates translation of carA transcripts coding for carbamoyl phosphate synthetase A; an enzyme that catalyzes the first step of pyrimidine biosynthesis. In addition, CbsR12 binds and downregulates translation of metK transcripts coding for S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) synthetase, a component of the methionine cycle. Furthermore, we found that CbsR12 binds to and downregulates the quantity of cvpD transcripts, coding for a type IVB effector protein, in mammalian cell culture. Finally, we found that CbsR12 is necessary for expansion of Coxiella-containing vacuoles (CCVs) and affects growth rates in a dose-dependent manner in the early phase of infecting THP-1 cells. This is the first characterization of a trans-acting sRNA of C. burnetii and first example of a bacterial sRNA that regulates both CarA and MetK synthesis. CbsR12 is one of only a few identified trans-acting sRNAs that interacts with CsrA.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1128/JB.00524-19
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/29665
Citation Details
Published as: Wachter, S., Bonazzi, M., Shifflett, K., Moses, A. S., Raghavan, R., & Minnick, M. F. (2019). A CsrA-binding, trans-acting sRNA of Coxiella burnetii is necessary for optimal intracellular growth and vacuole formation during early infection of host cells. Journal of bacteriology, JB-00524.
Description
This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Bacteriology,. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Bacteriology (2019), and can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1128/JB.00524-19
Copyright © 2019 American Society for Microbiology