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Kumagai K, Kamba K, Suzuki T, Sekikawa Y, Yuki C, Hamada M, Nagata K, Takaori-Kondo A, Wan L, Katahira M, Nagata T, Sakamoto T. Selection and characterization of aptamers targeting the Vif-CBFβ-ELOB-ELOC-CUL5 complex. J Biochem 2024; 176:205-215. [PMID: 38740386 DOI: 10.1093/jb/mvae040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2024] [Revised: 04/18/2024] [Accepted: 05/11/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
The viral infectivity factor (Vif) of human immunodeficiency virus 1 forms a complex with host proteins, designated as Vif-CBFβ-ELOB-ELOC-CUL5 (VβBCC), initiating the ubiquitination and subsequent proteasomal degradation of the human antiviral protein APOBEC3G (A3G), thereby negating its antiviral function. Whilst recent cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) studies have implicated RNA molecules in the Vif-A3G interaction that leads to A3G ubiquitination, our findings indicated that the VβBCC complex can also directly impede A3G-mediated DNA deamination, bypassing the proteasomal degradation pathway. Employing the Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment (SELEX) method, we have identified RNA aptamers with high affinity for the VβBCC complex. These aptamers not only bind to the VβBCC complex but also reinstate A3G's DNA deamination activity by inhibiting the complex's function. Moreover, we delineated the sequences and secondary structures of these aptamers, providing insights into the mechanistic aspects of A3G inhibition by the VβBCC complex. Analysis using selected aptamers will enhance our understanding of the inhibition of A3G by the VβBCC complex, offering potential avenues for therapeutic intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazuyuki Kumagai
- Department of Life Science, Faculty of Advanced Engineering, Chiba Institute of Technology, 2-17-1 Tsudanuma, Narashino, Chiba 275-0016, Japan
| | - Keisuke Kamba
- Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan
| | - Takuya Suzuki
- Department of Life Science, Faculty of Advanced Engineering, Chiba Institute of Technology, 2-17-1 Tsudanuma, Narashino, Chiba 275-0016, Japan
| | - Yuto Sekikawa
- Department of Life Science, Faculty of Advanced Engineering, Chiba Institute of Technology, 2-17-1 Tsudanuma, Narashino, Chiba 275-0016, Japan
| | - Chisato Yuki
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku,Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
| | - Michiaki Hamada
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku,Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
| | - Kayoko Nagata
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 54 Shogoin-Kawaracho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
| | - Akifumi Takaori-Kondo
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 54 Shogoin-Kawaracho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
| | - Li Wan
- Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan
- Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan
| | - Masato Katahira
- Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan
- Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan
| | - Takashi Nagata
- Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan
- Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan
- Integrated Research Center for Carbon Negative Science, Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan
| | - Taiichi Sakamoto
- Department of Life Science, Faculty of Advanced Engineering, Chiba Institute of Technology, 2-17-1 Tsudanuma, Narashino, Chiba 275-0016, Japan
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2
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Ko B, Shin T, Kim B, Lee DH. Validation of one-step reverse transcription digital PCR assays for Norovirus GI. Anal Biochem 2024; 692:115576. [PMID: 38796118 DOI: 10.1016/j.ab.2024.115576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2024] [Revised: 05/19/2024] [Accepted: 05/21/2024] [Indexed: 05/28/2024]
Abstract
Regular monitoring of Norovirus presence in environmental and food samples is crucial due to its high transmission rates and outbreak potential. For detecting Norovirus GI, reverse transcription qPCR method is commonly used, but its sensitivity can be affected by assay performance. This study shows significantly reduced assay performance in digital PCR or qPCR when using primers targeting Norovirus GI genome 5291-5319 (NC_001959), located on the hairpin of the predicted RNA structure. It is highly recommended to avoid this region in commercial kit development or diagnosis to minimizing potential risk of false negatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bomin Ko
- Bio-Metrology Group, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon, Republic of Korea; Korea University Graduate School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Taejin Shin
- Bio-Metrology Group, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Boram Kim
- Bio-Metrology Group, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Da-Hye Lee
- Bio-Metrology Group, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
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3
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Torkashvand N, Kamyab H, Shahverdi AR, Khoshayand MR, Karimi Tarshizi MA, Sepehrizadeh Z. Characterization and genome analysis of a broad host range lytic phage vB_SenS_TUMS_E19 against Salmonella enterica and its efficiency evaluation in the liquid egg. Can J Microbiol 2024; 70:358-369. [PMID: 38990097 DOI: 10.1139/cjm-2024-0013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/12/2024]
Abstract
Salmonella enterica serovars are zoonotic bacterial that cause foodborne enteritis. Due to bacteria's antibiotic resistance, using bacteriophages for biocontrol and treatment is a new therapeutic approach. In this study, we isolated, characterized, and analyzed the genome of vB_SenS_TUMS_E19 (E19), a broad host range Salmonella bacteriophage, and evaluated the influence of E19 on liquid eggs infected with Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the isolated bacteriophage had a siphovirus morphotype. E19 showed rapid adsorption (92% in 5 min), a short latent period (18 min), a large burst size (156 PFU per cell), and a broad host range against different Salmonella enterica serovars. Whole-genome sequencing analysis indicated that the isolated phage had a 42 813 bp long genome with 49.8% G + C content. Neither tRNA genes nor those associated with antibiotic resistance, virulence factors, or lysogenic formation were detected in the genome. The efficacy of E19 was evaluated in liquid eggs inoculated with S. Enteritidis at 4 and 25 °C, and results showed that it could effectively eradicate S. Enteritidis in just 30 min and prevented its growth up to 72 h. Our findings indicate that E19 can be an alternative to a preservative to control Salmonella in food samples and help prevent and treat salmonellosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Narges Torkashvand
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy & Biotechnology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Haniyeh Kamyab
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy & Biotechnology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Ahmad Reza Shahverdi
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy & Biotechnology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mohammad Reza Khoshayand
- Department of Food and Drug Control, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | | | - Zargham Sepehrizadeh
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy & Biotechnology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
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4
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McKinley LN, Meyer MO, Sebastian A, Chang BK, Messina KJ, Albert I, Bevilacqua PC. Direct testing of natural twister ribozymes from over a thousand organisms reveals a broad tolerance for structural imperfections. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.07.11.603121. [PMID: 39026743 PMCID: PMC11257566 DOI: 10.1101/2024.07.11.603121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/20/2024]
Abstract
Twister ribozymes are an extensively studied class of nucleolytic RNAs. Thousands of natural twisters have been proposed using sequence homology and structural descriptors. Yet, most of these candidates have not been validated experimentally. To address this gap, we developed CHiTA (Cleavage High-Throughput Assay), a high-throughput pipeline utilizing massively parallel oligonucleotide synthesis and next-generation sequencing to test putative ribozymes en masse in a scarless fashion. As proof of principle, we applied CHiTA to a small set of known active and mutant ribozymes. We then used CHiTA to test two large sets of naturally occurring twister ribozymes: over 1, 600 previously reported putative twisters and ∼1, 000 new candidate twisters. The new candidates were identified computationally in ∼1, 000 organisms, representing a massive increase in the number of ribozyme-harboring organisms. Approximately 94% of the twisters we tested were active and cleaved site-specifically. Analysis of their structural features revealed that many substitutions and helical imperfections can be tolerated. We repeated our computational search with structural descriptors updated from this analysis, whereupon we identified and confirmed the first intrinsically active twister ribozyme in mammals. CHiTA broadly expands the number of active twister ribozymes found in nature and provides a powerful method for functional analyses of other RNAs. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
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Walterová L, Botella L, Hejna O, de la Peña M, Tonka T, Čurn V. Characterization of Mycoviruses in Armillaria ostoyae and A. cepistipes in the Czech Republic. Viruses 2024; 16:610. [PMID: 38675951 PMCID: PMC11053624 DOI: 10.3390/v16040610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2024] [Revised: 04/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Members of the genus Armillaria are widespread forest pathogens against which effective protection has not yet been developed. Due to their longevity and the creation of large-scale cloning of Armillaria individuals, the use of mycoviruses as biocontrol agents (BCAs) against these pathogens could be an effective alternative. This work describes the detection and characterization of viruses in Armillaria spp. collected in the Czech Republic through the application of stranded total RNA sequencing. A total of five single-stranded RNA viruses were detected in Armillaria ostoyae and A. cepistipes, including viruses of the family Tymoviridae and four viruses belonging to the recently described "ambivirus" group with a circular ambisense genome arrangement. Both hammerhead (HHRz) and hairpin (HpRz) ribozymes were detected in all the ambiviricot sequences. Armillaria viruses were compared through phylogenetic analysis and confirmed their specific host by direct RT-PCR. One virus appears to infect both Armillaria species, suggesting the occurrence of interspecies transmission in nature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucie Walterová
- Department of Genetics and Agricultural Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Na Sádkách 1780, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic; (O.H.); (T.T.); (V.Č.)
| | - Leticia Botella
- Department of Forest Protection and Wildlife Management, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic;
| | - Ondřej Hejna
- Department of Genetics and Agricultural Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Na Sádkách 1780, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic; (O.H.); (T.T.); (V.Č.)
| | - Marcos de la Peña
- Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia-CSIC, 46022 Valencia, Spain;
| | - Tomáš Tonka
- Department of Genetics and Agricultural Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Na Sádkách 1780, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic; (O.H.); (T.T.); (V.Č.)
| | - Vladislav Čurn
- Department of Genetics and Agricultural Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Na Sádkách 1780, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic; (O.H.); (T.T.); (V.Č.)
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6
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Krohmaly KI, Perez-Losada M, Ramos-Tapia I, Zhu Z, Hasegawa K, Camargo Jr. CA, Harmon B, Espinola JA, Reck Cechinel L, Batabyal R, Freishtat RJ, Hahn A. Bacterial small RNAs may mediate immune response differences seen in respiratory syncytial virus versus rhinovirus bronchiolitis. Front Immunol 2024; 15:1330991. [PMID: 38410509 PMCID: PMC10895043 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1330991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 02/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Bronchiolitis, a viral lower respiratory infection, is the leading cause of infant hospitalization, which is associated with an increased risk for developing asthma later in life. Bronchiolitis can be caused by several respiratory viruses, such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), rhinovirus (RV), and others. It can also be caused by a solo infection (e.g., RSV- or RV-only bronchiolitis) or co-infection with two or more viruses. Studies have shown viral etiology-related differences between RSV- and RV-only bronchiolitis in the immune response, human microRNA (miRNA) profiles, and dominance of certain airway microbiome constituents. Here, we identified bacterial small RNAs (sRNAs), the prokaryotic equivalent to eukaryotic miRNAs, that differ between infants of the 35th Multicenter Airway Research Collaboration (MARC-35) cohort with RSV- versus RV-only bronchiolitis. We first derived reference sRNA datasets from cultures of four bacteria known to be associated with bronchiolitis (i.e., Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Moraxella nonliquefaciens, and Streptococcus pneumoniae). Using these reference sRNA datasets, we found several sRNAs associated with RSV- and RV-only bronchiolitis in our human nasal RNA-Seq MARC-35 data. We also determined potential human transcript targets of the bacterial sRNAs and compared expression of the sRNAs between RSV- and RV-only cases. sRNAs are known to downregulate their mRNA target, we found that, compared to those associated with RV-only bronchiolitis, sRNAs associated with RSV-only bronchiolitis may relatively activate the IL-6 and IL-8 pathways and relatively inhibit the IL-17A pathway. These data support that bacteria may be contributing to inflammation differences seen in RSV- and RV-only bronchiolitis, and for the first time indicate that the potential mechanism in doing so may be through bacterial sRNAs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kylie I. Krohmaly
- Integrated Biomedical Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children’s National Research and Innovation Center, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Marcos Perez-Losada
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Computational Biology Institute, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Ignacio Ramos-Tapia
- Centro de Bioinformática y Biología Integrativa, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Zhaozhong Zhu
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Kohei Hasegawa
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Carlos A. Camargo Jr.
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Brennan Harmon
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children’s National Research and Innovation Center, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Janice A. Espinola
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Laura Reck Cechinel
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children’s National Research and Innovation Center, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Rachael Batabyal
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children’s National Research and Innovation Center, Washington, DC, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, United States
- Division of Emergency Medicine, Children’s National Hospital, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Robert J. Freishtat
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children’s National Research and Innovation Center, Washington, DC, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Andrea Hahn
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children’s National Research and Innovation Center, Washington, DC, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, United States
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Children’s National Hospital, Washington, DC, United States
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7
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Backofen R, Gorodkin J, Hofacker IL, Stadler PF. Comparative RNA Genomics. Methods Mol Biol 2024; 2802:347-393. [PMID: 38819565 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3838-5_12] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2024]
Abstract
Over the last quarter of a century it has become clear that RNA is much more than just a boring intermediate in protein expression. Ancient RNAs still appear in the core information metabolism and comprise a surprisingly large component in bacterial gene regulation. A common theme with these types of mostly small RNAs is their reliance of conserved secondary structures. Large-scale sequencing projects, on the other hand, have profoundly changed our understanding of eukaryotic genomes. Pervasively transcribed, they give rise to a plethora of large and evolutionarily extremely flexible non-coding RNAs that exert a vastly diverse array of molecule functions. In this chapter we provide a-necessarily incomplete-overview of the current state of comparative analysis of non-coding RNAs, emphasizing computational approaches as a means to gain a global picture of the modern RNA world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rolf Backofen
- Bioinformatics Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Center for Non-coding RNA in Technology and Health, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark
| | - Jan Gorodkin
- Center for Non-coding RNA in Technology and Health, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark
| | - Ivo L Hofacker
- Institute for Theoretical Chemistry, University of Vienna, Wien, Austria
- Bioinformatics and Computational Biology research group, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Center for Non-coding RNA in Technology and Health, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark
| | - Peter F Stadler
- Bioinformatics Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
- Interdisciplinary Center for Bioinformatics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
- Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
- Universidad National de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia.
- Institute for Theoretical Chemistry, University of Vienna, Wien, Austria.
- Center for Non-coding RNA in Technology and Health, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA.
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8
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Zamora-Caballero S, Chmielowska C, Quiles-Puchalt N, Brady A, Gallego Del Sol F, Mancheño-Bonillo J, Felipe-Ruíz A, Meijer WJJ, Penadés JR, Marina A. Antagonistic interactions between phage and host factors control arbitrium lysis-lysogeny decision. Nat Microbiol 2024; 9:161-172. [PMID: 38177302 PMCID: PMC10769878 DOI: 10.1038/s41564-023-01550-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Accepted: 11/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024]
Abstract
Phages can use a small-molecule communication arbitrium system to coordinate lysis-lysogeny decisions, but the underlying mechanism remains unknown. Here we determined that the arbitrium system in Bacillus subtilis phage phi3T modulates the bacterial toxin-antitoxin system MazE-MazF to regulate the phage life cycle. We show that phi3T expresses AimX and YosL, which bind to and inactivate MazF. AimX also inhibits the function of phi3T_93, a protein that promotes lysogeny by binding to MazE and releasing MazF. Overall, these mutually exclusive interactions promote the lytic cycle of the phage. After several rounds of infection, the phage-encoded AimP peptide accumulates intracellularly and inactivates the phage antiterminator AimR, a process that eliminates aimX expression from the aimP promoter. Therefore, when AimP increases, MazF activity promotes reversion back to lysogeny, since AimX is absent. Altogether, our study reveals the evolutionary strategy used by arbitrium to control lysis-lysogeny by domesticating and fine-tuning a phage-defence mechanism.
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Grants
- Wellcome Trust
- Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness | Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación)
- Regional Government of Valencia | Conselleria d'Educació, Investigació, Cultura i Esport (Conselleria d'Educació, Investigació, Cultura i Esport de la Generalitat Valenciana)
- NYSE Euronext
- European Commission NextGenerationEU fund (EU 2020/2094), through CSIC’s Global Health Platform (PTI Salud Global). Block allocation group (BAG) DLS Proposal MX28394, ALBA Proposal 2020074406 and ESRF proposal MX-2452
- grants PID2019-108541GB-I00 and PID2022-137201NB-I00 from Spanish Government (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación), PROMETEO/2020/012 by Valencian Government
- MR/M003876/1, MR/V000772/1 and MR/S00940X/1 from the Medical Research Council (UK), BB/N002873/1, BB/V002376/1 and BB/S003835/1 from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC, UK), ERC-ADG-2014 Proposal n° 670932 Dut-signal (from EU), and Wellcome Trust 201531/Z/16/Z
- RCUK | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
- RCUK | Medical Research Council (MRC)
- Wellcome Trust (Wellcome)
- EC | EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation H2020 | H2020 Priority Excellent Science | H2020 European Research Council (H2020 Excellent Science - European Research Council)
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Zamora-Caballero
- Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia (IBV)-CSIC and CIBER de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER)-ISCIII, Valencia, Spain
| | - Cora Chmielowska
- Centre for Bacterial Resistance Biology, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Nuria Quiles-Puchalt
- Centre for Bacterial Resistance Biology, Imperial College London, London, UK
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera, CEU Universities, Alfara del Patriarca, Spain
| | - Aisling Brady
- Centre for Bacterial Resistance Biology, Imperial College London, London, UK
- Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Francisca Gallego Del Sol
- Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia (IBV)-CSIC and CIBER de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER)-ISCIII, Valencia, Spain
| | - Javier Mancheño-Bonillo
- Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia (IBV)-CSIC and CIBER de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER)-ISCIII, Valencia, Spain
| | - Alonso Felipe-Ruíz
- Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia (IBV)-CSIC and CIBER de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER)-ISCIII, Valencia, Spain
| | - Wilfried J J Meijer
- Centro de Biología Molecular "Severo Ochoa" (CSIC-UAM), Universidad Autónoma, Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain
| | - José R Penadés
- Centre for Bacterial Resistance Biology, Imperial College London, London, UK.
| | - Alberto Marina
- Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia (IBV)-CSIC and CIBER de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER)-ISCIII, Valencia, Spain.
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9
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Tieng FYF, Abdullah-Zawawi MR, Md Shahri NAA, Mohamed-Hussein ZA, Lee LH, Mutalib NSA. A Hitchhiker's guide to RNA-RNA structure and interaction prediction tools. Brief Bioinform 2023; 25:bbad421. [PMID: 38040490 PMCID: PMC10753535 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbad421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Revised: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 10/26/2023] [Indexed: 12/03/2023] Open
Abstract
RNA biology has risen to prominence after a remarkable discovery of diverse functions of noncoding RNA (ncRNA). Most untranslated transcripts often exert their regulatory functions into RNA-RNA complexes via base pairing with complementary sequences in other RNAs. An interplay between RNAs is essential, as it possesses various functional roles in human cells, including genetic translation, RNA splicing, editing, ribosomal RNA maturation, RNA degradation and the regulation of metabolic pathways/riboswitches. Moreover, the pervasive transcription of the human genome allows for the discovery of novel genomic functions via RNA interactome investigation. The advancement of experimental procedures has resulted in an explosion of documented data, necessitating the development of efficient and precise computational tools and algorithms. This review provides an extensive update on RNA-RNA interaction (RRI) analysis via thermodynamic- and comparative-based RNA secondary structure prediction (RSP) and RNA-RNA interaction prediction (RIP) tools and their general functions. We also highlighted the current knowledge of RRIs and the limitations of RNA interactome mapping via experimental data. Then, the gap between RSP and RIP, the importance of RNA homologues, the relationship between pseudoknots, and RNA folding thermodynamics are discussed. It is hoped that these emerging prediction tools will deepen the understanding of RNA-associated interactions in human diseases and hasten treatment processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francis Yew Fu Tieng
- UKM Medical Molecular Biology Institute (UMBI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia
| | | | - Nur Alyaa Afifah Md Shahri
- UKM Medical Molecular Biology Institute (UMBI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia
| | - Zeti-Azura Mohamed-Hussein
- Institute of Systems Biology (INBIOSIS), UKM, Selangor 43600, Malaysia
- Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, UKM, Selangor 43600, Malaysia
| | - Learn-Han Lee
- Sunway Microbiomics Centre, School of Medical and Life Sciences, Sunway University, Sunway City 47500, Malaysia
- Novel Bacteria and Drug Discovery Research Group, Microbiome and Bioresource Research Strength, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University of Malaysia, Selangor 47500, Malaysia
| | - Nurul-Syakima Ab Mutalib
- UKM Medical Molecular Biology Institute (UMBI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia
- Novel Bacteria and Drug Discovery Research Group, Microbiome and Bioresource Research Strength, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University of Malaysia, Selangor 47500, Malaysia
- Faculty of Health Sciences, UKM, Kuala Lumpur 50300, Malaysia
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10
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Bräuer JA, Hammerl JA, El-Mustapha S, Fuhrmann J, Barac A, Hertwig S. The Novel Yersinia enterocolitica Telomere Phage vB_YenS_P840 Is Closely Related to PY54, but Reveals Some Striking Differences. Viruses 2023; 15:2019. [PMID: 37896796 PMCID: PMC10612081 DOI: 10.3390/v15102019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Revised: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Telomere phages are a small group of temperate phages, whose prophages replicate as a linear plasmid with covalently closed ends. They have been isolated from some Enterobacteriaceae and from bacterial species living in aquatic environments. Phage PY54 was the first Yersinia (Y.) enterocolitica telomere phage isolated from a nonpathogenic O:5 strain, but recently a second telomeric Yersinia phage (vB_YenS_P840) was isolated from a tonsil of a wild boar in Germany. Both PY54 and vB_YenS_P840 (P840) have a siphoviridal morphology and a similar genome organization including the primary immunity region immB and telomere resolution site telRL. However, whereas PY54 only possesses one prophage repressor for the lysogenic cycle, vB_YenS_P840 encodes two. The telRL region of this phage was shown to be processed by the PY54 protelomerase under in vivo conditions, but unlike with PY54, a flanking inverted repeat was not required for processing. A further substantial difference between the phages is their host specificity. While PY54 infects Y. enterocolitica strains belonging to the serotypes O:5 and O:5,27, vB_YenS_P840 exclusively lyses O:3 strains. As the tail fiber and tail fiber assembly proteins of the phages differ significantly, we introduced the corresponding genes of vB_YenS_P840 by transposon mutagenesis into the PY54 genome and isolated several mutants that were able to infect both serotypes, O:5,27 and O:3.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Stefan Hertwig
- German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Department of Biological Safety, Max-Dohrn Str. 8–10, D-10589 Berlin, Germany (J.A.H.)
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11
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Howarth RE, Pattillo CM, Griffitts JS, Calvopina-Chavez DG. Three genes controlling streptomycin susceptibility in Agrobacterium fabrum. J Bacteriol 2023; 205:e0016523. [PMID: 37695858 PMCID: PMC10521367 DOI: 10.1128/jb.00165-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/05/2023] [Indexed: 09/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Streptomycin (Sm) is a commonly used antibiotic for its efficacy against diverse bacteria. The plant pathogen Agrobacterium fabrum is a model for studying pathogenesis and interkingdom gene transfer. Streptomycin-resistant variants of A. fabrum are commonly employed in genetic analyses, yet mechanisms of resistance and susceptibility to streptomycin in this organism have not previously been investigated. We observe that resistance to a high concentration of streptomycin arises at high frequency in A. fabrum, and we attribute this trait to the presence of a chromosomal gene (strB) encoding a putative aminoglycoside phosphotransferase. We show how strB, along with rpsL (encoding ribosomal protein S12) and rsmG (encoding a 16S rRNA methyltransferase), modulates streptomycin sensitivity in A. fabrum. IMPORTANCE The plant pathogen Agrobacterium fabrum is a widely used model bacterium for studying biofilms, bacterial motility, pathogenesis, and gene transfer from bacteria to plants. Streptomycin (Sm) is an aminoglycoside antibiotic known for its broad efficacy against gram-negative bacteria. A. fabrum exhibits endogenous resistance to somewhat high levels of streptomycin, but the mechanism underlying this resistance has not been elucidated. Here, we demonstrate that this resistance is caused by a chromosomally encoded streptomycin-inactivating enzyme, StrB, that has not been previously characterized in A. fabrum. Furthermore, we show how the genes rsmG, rpsL, and strB jointly modulate streptomycin susceptibility in A. fabrum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robyn E. Howarth
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA
| | - Curtis M. Pattillo
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA
| | - Joel S. Griffitts
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA
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12
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Drummond IY, DePaolo A, Krieger M, Driscoll H, Eckstrom K, Spatafora GA. Small regulatory RNAs are mediators of the Streptococcus mutans SloR regulon. J Bacteriol 2023; 205:e0017223. [PMID: 37695854 PMCID: PMC10521355 DOI: 10.1128/jb.00172-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 09/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Dental caries is among the most prevalent chronic diseases worldwide. Streptococcus mutans, the chief causative agent of caries, uses a 25-kDa manganese-dependent SloR protein to coordinate the uptake of essential manganese with the transcription of its virulence attributes. Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) can either enhance or repress gene expression, and reports in the literature ascribe an emerging role for sRNAs in the environmental stress response. Herein, we focused our attention on 18-50 nt sRNAs as mediators of the S. mutans SloR and manganese regulons. Specifically, the results of RNA sequencing revealed 19 sRNAs in S. mutans, which were differentially transcribed in the SloR-proficient UA159 and SloR-deficient GMS584 strains, and 10 sRNAs that were differentially expressed in UA159 cells grown in the presence of low vs high manganese. We describe SmsR1532 and SmsR1785 as SloR- and manganese-responsive sRNAs that are processed from large transcripts and that bind SloR directly in their promoter regions. The predicted targets of these sRNAs include regulators of metal ion transport, growth management via a toxin-antitoxin operon, and oxidative stress tolerance. These findings support a role for sRNAs in coordinating intracellular metal ion homeostasis with virulence gene control in an important oral cariogen. IMPORTANCE Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) are critical mediators of environmental signaling, particularly in bacterial cells under stress, but their role in Streptococcus mutans is poorly understood. S. mutans, the principal causative agent of dental caries, uses a 25-kDa manganese-dependent protein, called SloR, to coordinate the regulated uptake of essential metal ions with the transcription of its virulence genes. In the present study, we identified and characterized sRNAs that are both SloR and manganese responsive. Taken together, this research can elucidate the details of regulatory networks that engage sRNAs in an important oral pathogen and that can enable the development of an effective anti-caries therapeutic.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Madeline Krieger
- Department of Restorative Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Heather Driscoll
- Department of Biology, Vermont Biomedical Research Network, Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont, USA
| | - Korin Eckstrom
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA
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13
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Sutanto K, Turcotte M. Assessing Global-Local Secondary Structure Fingerprints to Classify RNA Sequences With Deep Learning. IEEE/ACM TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AND BIOINFORMATICS 2023; 20:2736-2747. [PMID: 34633933 DOI: 10.1109/tcbb.2021.3118358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
RNA elements that are transcribed but not translated into proteins are called non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). They play wide-ranging roles in biological processes and disorders. Just like proteins, their structure is often intimately linked to their function. Many examples have been documented where structure is conserved across taxa despite sequence divergence. Thus, structure is often used to identify function. Specifically, the secondary structure is predicted and ncRNAs with similar structures are assumed to have same or similar functions. However, a strand of RNA can fold into multiple possible structures, and some strands even fold differently in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, ncRNAs often function as RNA-protein complexes, which can affect structure. Because of these, we hypothesized using one structure per sequence may discard information, possibly resulting in poorer classification accuracy. Therefore, we propose using secondary structure fingerprints, comprising two categories: a higher-level representation derived from RNA-As-Graphs (RAG), and free energy fingerprints based on a curated repertoire of small structural motifs. The fingerprints take into account the difference between global and local structural matches. We also evaluated our deep learning architecture with k-mers. By combining our global-local fingerprints with 6-mer, we achieved an accuracy, precision, and recall of 91.04%, 91.10%, and 91.00%.
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14
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Xu J, Hou J, Ding M, Wang Z, Chen T. Riboswitches, from cognition to transformation. Synth Syst Biotechnol 2023; 8:357-370. [PMID: 37325181 PMCID: PMC10265488 DOI: 10.1016/j.synbio.2023.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Revised: 05/20/2023] [Accepted: 05/25/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Riboswitches are functional RNA elements that regulate gene expression by directly detecting metabolites. Twenty years have passed since it was first discovered, researches on riboswitches are becoming increasingly standardized and refined, which could significantly promote people's cognition of RNA function as well. Here, we focus on some representative orphan riboswitches, enumerate the structural and functional transformation and artificial design of riboswitches including the coupling with ribozymes, hoping to attain a comprehensive understanding of riboswitch research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingdong Xu
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300350, China
- Frontier Science Center for Synthetic Biology, Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, Tianjin, 300350, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin, 300350, China
| | - Junyuan Hou
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300350, China
- Frontier Science Center for Synthetic Biology, Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, Tianjin, 300350, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin, 300350, China
| | - Mengnan Ding
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300350, China
- Frontier Science Center for Synthetic Biology, Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, Tianjin, 300350, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin, 300350, China
| | - Zhiwen Wang
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300350, China
- Frontier Science Center for Synthetic Biology, Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, Tianjin, 300350, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin, 300350, China
| | - Tao Chen
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300350, China
- Frontier Science Center for Synthetic Biology, Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, Tianjin, 300350, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin, 300350, China
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15
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Mathez G, Cagno V. Small Molecules Targeting Viral RNA. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:13500. [PMID: 37686306 PMCID: PMC10487773 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241713500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2023] [Revised: 08/25/2023] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 09/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The majority of antivirals available target viral proteins; however, RNA is emerging as a new and promising antiviral target due to the presence of highly structured RNA in viral genomes fundamental for their replication cycle. Here, we discuss methods for the identification of RNA-targeting compounds, starting from the determination of RNA structures either from purified RNA or in living cells, followed by in silico screening on RNA and phenotypic assays to evaluate viral inhibition. Moreover, we review the small molecules known to target the programmed ribosomal frameshifting element of SARS-CoV-2, the internal ribosomal entry site of different viruses, and RNA elements of HIV.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Valeria Cagno
- Institute of Microbiology, University Hospital of Lausanne, University of Lausanne, 1011 Lausanne, Switzerland
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16
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Neugroschl A, Catrina IE. TFOFinder: Python program for identifying purine-only double-stranded stretches in the predicted secondary structure(s) of RNA targets. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1011418. [PMID: 37624852 PMCID: PMC10484449 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Revised: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Nucleic acid probes are valuable tools in biology and chemistry and are indispensable for PCR amplification of DNA, RNA quantification and visualization, and downregulation of gene expression. Recently, triplex-forming oligonucleotides (TFO) have received increased attention due to their improved selectivity and sensitivity in recognizing purine-rich double-stranded RNA regions at physiological pH by incorporating backbone and base modifications. For example, triplex-forming peptide nucleic acid (PNA) oligomers have been used for imaging a structured RNA in cells and inhibiting influenza A replication. Although a handful of programs are available to identify triplex target sites (TTS) in DNA, none are available that find such regions in structured RNAs. Here, we describe TFOFinder, a Python program that facilitates the identification of intramolecular purine-only RNA duplexes that are amenable to forming parallel triple helices (pyrimidine/purine/pyrimidine) and the design of the corresponding TFO(s). We performed genome- and transcriptome-wide analyses of TTS in Drosophila melanogaster and found that only 0.3% (123) of total unique transcripts (35,642) show the potential of forming 12-purine long triplex forming sites that contain at least one guanine. Using minimization algorithms, we predicted the secondary structure(s) of these transcripts, and using TFOFinder, we found that 97 (79%) of the identified 123 transcripts are predicted to fold to form at least one TTS for parallel triple helix formation. The number of transcripts with potential purine TTS increases when the strict search conditions are relaxed by decreasing the length of the probe or by allowing up to two pyrimidine inversions or 1-nucleotide bulge in the target site. These results are encouraging for the use of modified triplex forming probes for live imaging of endogenous structured RNA targets, such as pre-miRNAs, and inhibition of target-specific translation and viral replication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Atara Neugroschl
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Stern College for Women, Yeshiva University, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Irina E. Catrina
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Yeshiva College, Yeshiva University, New York, New York, United States of America
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17
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Miguel-Arribas A, Martín-María A, Alaerds ECW, Val-Calvo J, Yuste L, Rojo F, Abia D, Wu L, Meijer WJJ. Extraordinary long-stem confers resistance of intrinsic terminators to processive antitermination. Nucleic Acids Res 2023; 51:6073-6086. [PMID: 37125647 PMCID: PMC10325885 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Revised: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 04/20/2023] [Indexed: 05/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Many prokaryotic operons encode a processive antitermination (P-AT) system. Transcription complexes associated with an antitermination factor can bypass multiple transcription termination signals regardless of their sequences. However, to avoid compromising transcriptional regulation of downstream regions, the terminator at the end of the operon needs to be resistant to antitermination. So far, no studies on the mechanism of resistance to antitermination have been reported. The recently discovered conAn P-AT system is composed of two components that are encoded at the start of many conjugation operons on plasmids of Gram-positive bacteria. Here we report the identification of a conAn-resistant terminator, named TerR, in the conjugation operon of the Bacillus subtilis plasmid pLS20, re-defining the end of the conjugation operon. We investigated the various characteristics of TerR and show that its extraordinary long stem is the determining feature for resistance to antitermination. This is the first P-AT resistance mechanism to be reported.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrés Miguel-Arribas
- Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Ana Martín-María
- Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Eef C W Alaerds
- Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Jorge Val-Calvo
- Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Luis Yuste
- Departamento de Biotecnología Microbiana, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, CSIC, C. Darwin 3, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Fernando Rojo
- Departamento de Biotecnología Microbiana, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, CSIC, C. Darwin 3, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - David Abia
- Bioinformatics Facility, Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa”, (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Canto Blanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Ling Juan Wu
- Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Richardson Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE2 4AX, UK
| | - Wilfried J J Meijer
- Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
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18
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Drummond IY, DePaolo A, Krieger M, Driscoll H, Eckstrom K, Spatafora GA. Small regulatory RNAs are mediators of the Streptococcus mutans SloR regulon. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.06.02.543485. [PMID: 37398324 PMCID: PMC10312646 DOI: 10.1101/2023.06.02.543485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/04/2023]
Abstract
Dental caries is among the most prevalent chronic infectious diseases worldwide. Streptococcus mutans , the chief causative agent of caries, uses a 25 kDa manganese dependent SloR protein to coordinate the uptake of essential manganese with the transcription of its virulence attributes. Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) can either enhance or repress gene expression and reports in the literature ascribe an emerging role for sRNAs in the environmental stress response. Herein, we identify 18-50 nt sRNAs as mediators of the S. mutans SloR and manganese regulons. Specifically, the results of sRNA-seq revealed 56 sRNAs in S. mutans that were differentially transcribed in the SloR-proficient UA159 and SloR-deficient GMS584 strains, and 109 sRNAs that were differentially expressed in UA159 cells grown in the presence of low versus high manganese. We describe SmsR1532 and SmsR1785 as SloR- and/or manganese-responsive sRNAs that are processed from large transcripts, and that bind SloR directly in their promoter regions. The predicted targets of these sRNAs include regulators of metal ion transport, growth management via a toxin-antitoxin operon, and oxidative stress tolerance. These findings support a role for sRNAs in coordinating intracellular metal ion homeostasis with virulence gene control in an important oral cariogen. IMPORTANCE Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) are critical mediators of environmental signaling, particularly in bacterial cells under stress, but their role in Streptococcus mutans is poorly understood. S. mutans, the principal causative agent of dental caries, uses a 25 kDa manganese-dependent protein, called SloR, to coordinate the regulated uptake of essential metal ions with the transcription of its virulence genes. In the present study, we identified and characterize sRNAs that are both SloR- and manganese-responsive. Taken together, this research can elucidate the details of regulatory networks that engage sRNAs in an important oral pathogen, and that can enable the development of an effective anti-caries therapeutic.
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19
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Early antitermination in the atypical coliphage mEp021 mediated by the Gp17 protein. Arch Virol 2023; 168:92. [PMID: 36795170 DOI: 10.1007/s00705-023-05721-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2022] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 02/17/2023]
Abstract
The coliphage mEp021 belongs to a phage group with a unique immunity repressor, and its life cycle requires the host factor Nus. mEp021 has been classified as non-lambdoid based on its specific characteristics. The mEp021 genome carries a gene encoding an Nλ-like antiterminator protein, termed Gp17, and three nut sites (nutL, nutR1, and nutR2). Analysis of plasmid constructs containing these nut sites, a transcription terminator, and a GFP reporter gene showed high levels of fluorescence when Gp17 was expressed, but not in its absence. Like lambdoid N proteins, Gp17 has an arginine-rich motif (ARM), and mutations in its arginine codons inhibit its function. In infection assays using the mutant phage mEp021ΔGp17::Kan (where gp17 has been deleted), gene transcripts located downstream of transcription terminators were obtained only when Gp17 was expressed. In contrast to phage lambda, mEp021 virus particle production was partially restored (>1/3 relative to wild type) when nus mutants (nusA1, nusB5, nusC60, and nusE71) were infected with mEp021 and Gp17 was overexpressed. Our results suggest that RNA polymerase reads through the third nut site (nutR2), which is more than 7.9 kbp downstream of nutR1.
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20
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Staphylococcus aureus Prophage-Encoded Protein Causes Abortive Infection and Provides Population Immunity against Kayviruses. mBio 2023; 14:e0249022. [PMID: 36779718 PMCID: PMC10127798 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02490-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Both temperate and obligately lytic phages have crucial roles in the biology of staphylococci. While superinfection exclusion among closely related temperate phages is a well-characterized phenomenon, the interactions between temperate and lytic phages in staphylococci are not understood. Here, we present a resistance mechanism toward lytic phages of the genus Kayvirus, mediated by the membrane-anchored protein designated PdpSau encoded by Staphylococcus aureus prophages, mostly of the Sa2 integrase type. The prophage accessory gene pdpSau is strongly linked to the lytic genes for holin and ami2-type amidase and typically replaces genes for the toxin Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL). The predicted PdpSau protein structure shows the presence of a membrane-binding α-helix in its N-terminal part and a cytoplasmic positively charged C terminus. We demonstrated that the mechanism of action of PdpSau does not prevent the infecting kayvirus from adsorbing onto the host cell and delivering its genome into the cell, but phage DNA replication is halted. Changes in the cell membrane polarity and permeability were observed from 10 min after the infection, which led to prophage-activated cell death. Furthermore, we describe a mechanism of overcoming this resistance in a host-range Kayvirus mutant, which was selected on an S. aureus strain harboring prophage 53 encoding PdpSau, and in which a chimeric gene product emerged via adaptive laboratory evolution. This first case of staphylococcal interfamily phage-phage competition is analogous to some other abortive infection defense systems and to systems based on membrane-destructive proteins. IMPORTANCE Prophages play an important role in virulence, pathogenesis, and host preference, as well as in horizontal gene transfer in staphylococci. In contrast, broad-host-range lytic staphylococcal kayviruses lyse most S. aureus strains, and scientists worldwide have come to believe that the use of such phages will be successful for treating and preventing bacterial diseases. The effectiveness of phage therapy is complicated by bacterial resistance, whose mechanisms related to therapeutic staphylococcal phages are not understood in detail. In this work, we describe a resistance mechanism targeting kayviruses that is encoded by a prophage. We conclude that the defense mechanism belongs to a broader group of abortive infections, which is characterized by suicidal behavior of infected cells that are unable to produce phage progeny, thus ensuring the survival of the host population. Since the majority of staphylococcal strains are lysogenic, our findings are relevant for the advancement of phage therapy.
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21
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Lee BD, Neri U, Roux S, Wolf YI, Camargo AP, Krupovic M, Simmonds P, Kyrpides N, Gophna U, Dolja VV, Koonin EV. Mining metatranscriptomes reveals a vast world of viroid-like circular RNAs. Cell 2023; 186:646-661.e4. [PMID: 36696902 PMCID: PMC9911046 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.12.039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2022] [Revised: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Viroids and viroid-like covalently closed circular (ccc) RNAs are minimal replicators that typically encode no proteins and hijack cellular enzymes for replication. The extent and diversity of viroid-like agents are poorly understood. We developed a computational pipeline to identify viroid-like cccRNAs and applied it to 5,131 metatranscriptomes and 1,344 plant transcriptomes. The search yielded 11,378 viroid-like cccRNAs spanning 4,409 species-level clusters, a 5-fold increase compared to the previously identified viroid-like elements. Within this diverse collection, we discovered numerous putative viroids, satellite RNAs, retrozymes, and ribozy-like viruses. Diverse ribozyme combinations and unusual ribozymes within the cccRNAs were identified. Self-cleaving ribozymes were identified in ambiviruses, some mito-like viruses and capsid-encoding satellite virus-like cccRNAs. The broad presence of viroid-like cccRNAs in diverse transcriptomes and ecosystems implies that their host range is far broader than currently known, and matches to CRISPR spacers suggest that some cccRNAs replicate in prokaryotes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin D Lee
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA; Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Uri Neri
- The Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
| | - Simon Roux
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Yuri I Wolf
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA
| | - Antonio Pedro Camargo
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Mart Krupovic
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR6047, Archaeal Virology Unit, 75015 Paris, France
| | - Peter Simmonds
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Nikos Kyrpides
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Uri Gophna
- The Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
| | - Valerian V Dolja
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Eugene V Koonin
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA.
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22
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Hollar A, Bursey H, Jabbari H. Pseudoknots in RNA Structure Prediction. Curr Protoc 2023; 3:e661. [PMID: 36779804 DOI: 10.1002/cpz1.661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/14/2023]
Abstract
RNA molecules play active roles in the cell and are important for numerous applications in biotechnology and medicine. The function of an RNA molecule stems from its structure. RNA structure determination is time consuming, challenging, and expensive using experimental methods. Thus, much research has been directed at RNA structure prediction through computational means. Many of these methods focus primarily on the secondary structure of the molecule, ignoring the possibility of pseudoknotted structures. However, pseudoknots are known to play functional roles in many RNA molecules or in their method of interaction with other molecules. Improving the accuracy and efficiency of computational methods that predict pseudoknots is an ongoing challenge for single RNA molecules, RNA-RNA interactions, and RNA-protein interactions. To improve the accuracy of prediction, many methods focus on specific applications while restricting the length and the class of the pseudoknotted structures they can identify. In recent years, computational methods for structure prediction have begun to catch up with the impressive developments seen in biotechnology. Here, we provide a non-comprehensive overview of available pseudoknot prediction methods and their best-use cases. © 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Hollar
- Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada
| | - Hunter Bursey
- Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada
| | - Hosna Jabbari
- Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada
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23
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Characterization and genome analysis of Escherichia phage fBC-Eco01, isolated from wastewater in Tunisia. Arch Virol 2023; 168:44. [PMID: 36609878 PMCID: PMC9825357 DOI: 10.1007/s00705-022-05680-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
The rise of antibiotic resistance in bacterial strains has led to vigorous exploration for alternative treatments. To this end, phage therapy has been revisited, and it is gaining increasing attention, as it may represent an efficient alternative for treating multiresistant pathogenic bacteria. Phage therapy is considered safe, and phages do not infect eukaryotic cells. There have been many studies investigating phage-host bacteria interactions and the ability of phages to target specific hosts. Escherichia coli is the causative agent of a multitude of infections, ranging from urinary tract infections to sepsis, with growing antibiotic resistance. In this study, we characterized the Escherichia phage fBC-Eco01, which was isolated from a water sample collected at Oued, Tunis. Electron microscopy showed that fBC-Eco01 phage particles have siphovirus morphology, with an icosahedral head of 61 ± 3 nm in diameter and a non-contractile tail of 94 ± 2 nm in length and 12 ± 0.9 nm in width. The genome of fBC-Eco01 is a linear double-stranded DNA of 43.466 bp with a GC content of 50.4%. Comparison to databases allowed annotation of the functions to 39 of the 78 predicted gene products. A single-step growth curve revealed that fBC-Eco01 has a latent period of 30 minutes and a burst size of 175 plaque-forming units (PFU) per infected cell. Genomic analysis indicated that fBC-Eco01 is a member of the subfamily Guernseyvirinae. It is most closely related to a group of phages of the genus Kagunavirus that infect Enterobacter, Raoultella, and Escherichia strains.
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Devi MP, Dasgupta M, Mohanty S, Sharma SK, Hegde V, Roy SS, Renadevan R, Kumar KB, Patel HK, Sahoo MR. DNA Barcoding and ITS2 Secondary Structure Predictions in Taro ( Colocasia esculenta L. Schott) from the North Eastern Hill Region of India. Genes (Basel) 2022; 13:genes13122294. [PMID: 36553561 PMCID: PMC9778394 DOI: 10.3390/genes13122294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2022] [Revised: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Taro (Colocasia esculenta L. Schott, Araceae), an ancient root and tuber crop, is highly polygenic, polyphyletic, and polygeographic in nature, which leads to its rapid genetic erosion. To prevent the perceived loss of taro diversity, species discrimination and genetic conservation of promising taro genotypes need special attention. Reports on genetic discrimination of taro at its center of origin are still untapped. We performed DNA barcoding of twenty promising genotypes of taro indigenous to the northeastern hill region of India, deploying two chloroplast-plastid genes, matK and rbcL, and the ribosomal nuclear gene ITS2. The secondary structure of ITS2 was determined and molecular phylogeny was performed to assess genetic discrimination among the taro genotypes. The matK and rbcL genes were highly efficient (>90%) in amplification and sequencing. However, the ITS2 barcode region achieved significant discrimination among the tested taro genotypes. All the taro genotypes displayed most similar sequences at the conserved matK and rbcL loci. However, distinct sequence lengths were observed in the ITS2 barcode region, revealing accurate discriminations among the genotypes. Multiple barcode markers are unrelated to one another and change independently, providing different estimations of heritable traits and genetic lineages; thus, they are advantageous over a single locus in genetic discrimination studies. A dynamic programming algorithm that used base-pairing interactions within a single nucleic acid polymer or between two polymers transformed the secondary structures into the symbol code data to predict seven different minimum free energy secondary structures. Our analysis strengthens the potential of the ITS2 gene as a potent DNA barcode candidate in the prediction of a valuable secondary structure that would help in genetic discrimination between the genotypes while augmenting future breeding strategies in taro.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mayengbam Premi Devi
- Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region, Imphal 795004, India
- College of Agriculture, Central Agricultural University (CAU-Imphal), Kyrdemkulai 793105, India
| | - Madhumita Dasgupta
- Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region, Imphal 795004, India
| | - Sansuta Mohanty
- Central Horticultural Experiment Station, ICAR–Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bhubaneswar 751019, India
| | - Susheel Kumar Sharma
- Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region, Imphal 795004, India
- ICAR—Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa Campus, New Delhi 110012, India
| | - Vivek Hegde
- ICAR—Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram 695017, India
- ICAR—Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru 560089, India
| | - Subhra Saikat Roy
- Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region, Imphal 795004, India
| | - Rennya Renadevan
- Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad 570007, India
| | | | - Hitendra Kumar Patel
- Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad 570007, India
- Correspondence: (H.K.P.); (M.R.S.); Tel.: +91-674-247-1867 (M.R.S.); Fax: +91-674-247-1712 (M.R.S.)
| | - Manas Ranjan Sahoo
- Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region, Imphal 795004, India
- Central Horticultural Experiment Station, ICAR–Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bhubaneswar 751019, India
- Correspondence: (H.K.P.); (M.R.S.); Tel.: +91-674-247-1867 (M.R.S.); Fax: +91-674-247-1712 (M.R.S.)
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25
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Kühn MJ, Edelmann DB, Thormann KM. Polar flagellar wrapping and lateral flagella jointly contribute to Shewanella putrefaciens environmental spreading. Environ Microbiol 2022; 24:5911-5923. [PMID: 35722744 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2022] [Revised: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 06/17/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Flagella enable bacteria to actively spread within the environment. A number of species possess two separate flagellar systems, where in most cases a primary polar flagellar system is supported by distinct secondary lateral flagella under appropriate conditions. Using functional fluorescence tagging on one of these species, Shewanella putrefaciens, as a model system, we explored how two different flagellar systems can exhibit efficient joint function. The S. putrefaciens secondary flagellar filaments are composed as a mixture of two highly homologous non-glycosylated flagellins, FlaA2 and FlaB2 . Both are solely sufficient to form a functional filament, however, full spreading motility through soft agar requires both flagellins. During swimming, lateral flagella emerge from the cell surface at angles between 30° and 50°, and only filaments located close to the cell pole may form a bundle. Upon a directional shift from forward to backward swimming initiated by the main polar flagellum, the secondary filaments flip over and thus support propulsion into either direction. Lateral flagella do not inhibit the wrapping of the polar flagellum around the cell body at high load. Accordingly, screw thread-like motility mediated by the primary flagellum and activity of lateral flagella cumulatively supports spreading through constricted environments such as polysaccharide matrices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco J Kühn
- Institut für Mikrobiologie und Molekularbiologie, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Gießen, Germany.,Institute of Bioengineering and Global Health Institute, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Daniel B Edelmann
- Institut für Mikrobiologie und Molekularbiologie, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Gießen, Germany
| | - Kai M Thormann
- Institut für Mikrobiologie und Molekularbiologie, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Gießen, Germany
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Eusébio N, Castelo-Branco R, Sousa D, Preto M, D’Agostino P, Gulder TAM, Leão PN. Discovery and Heterologous Expression of Microginins from Microcystis aeruginosa LEGE 91341. ACS Synth Biol 2022; 11:3493-3503. [PMID: 36166626 PMCID: PMC9594780 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.2c00389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Microginins are a large family of cyanobacterial lipopeptide protease inhibitors. A hybrid polyketide synthase/non-ribosomal peptide synthetase biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) found in several microginin-producing strains─mic─was proposed to encode the production of microginins, based on bioinformatic analysis. Here, we explored a cyanobacterium, Microcystis aeruginosa LEGE 91341, which contains a mic BGC, to discover 12 new microginin variants. The new compounds contain uncommon amino acids, namely, homophenylalanine (Hphe), homotyrosine (Htyr), or methylproline, as well as a 3-aminodecanoic acid (Ada) residue, which in some variants was chlorinated at its terminal methyl group. We have used direct pathway cloning (DiPaC) to heterologously express the mic BGC from M. aeruginosa LEGE 91341 in Escherichia coli, which led to the production of several microginins. This proved that the mic BGC is, in fact, responsible for the biosynthesis of microginins and paves the way to accessing new variants from (meta)genome data or through pathway engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nádia Eusébio
- Interdisciplinary
Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR/CIMAR), University of Porto, Avenida General Norton de Matos, s/n, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal
| | - Raquel Castelo-Branco
- Interdisciplinary
Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR/CIMAR), University of Porto, Avenida General Norton de Matos, s/n, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal
| | - Diana Sousa
- Interdisciplinary
Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR/CIMAR), University of Porto, Avenida General Norton de Matos, s/n, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal
| | - Marco Preto
- Interdisciplinary
Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR/CIMAR), University of Porto, Avenida General Norton de Matos, s/n, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal
| | - Paul D’Agostino
- Chair
of Technical Biochemistry, Technical University
of Dresden, Bergstraße
66, 01069 Dresden, Germany
| | - Tobias A. M. Gulder
- Chair
of Technical Biochemistry, Technical University
of Dresden, Bergstraße
66, 01069 Dresden, Germany
| | - Pedro N. Leão
- Interdisciplinary
Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR/CIMAR), University of Porto, Avenida General Norton de Matos, s/n, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal,
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Inverse folding based pre-training for the reliable identification of intrinsic transcription terminators. PLoS Comput Biol 2022; 18:e1010240. [PMID: 35797361 PMCID: PMC9262186 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 05/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
It is well-established that neural networks can predict or identify structural motifs of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). Yet, the neural network based identification of RNA structural motifs is limited by the availability of training data that are often insufficient for learning features of specific ncRNA families or structural motifs. Aiming to reliably identify intrinsic transcription terminators in bacteria, we introduce a novel pre-training approach that uses inverse folding to generate training data for predicting or identifying a specific family or structural motif of ncRNA. We assess the ability of neural networks to identify secondary structure by systematic in silico mutagenesis experiments. In a study to identify intrinsic transcription terminators as functionally well-understood RNA structural motifs, our inverse folding based pre-training approach significantly boosts the performance of neural network topologies, which outperform previous approaches to identify intrinsic transcription terminators. Inverse-folding based pre-training provides a simple, yet highly effective way to integrate the well-established thermodynamic energy model into deep neural networks for identifying ncRNA families or motifs. The pre-training technique is broadly applicable to a range of network topologies as well as different types of ncRNA families and motifs. Intrinsic transcriptional terminators are essential regulators in determining the 3’ end of transcripts in bacteria. The underlying mechanism involves RNA secondary structure, where nucleotides fold into a specific hairpin motif. Identifying terminator sequences in bacterial genomes has conventionally been approached with well-established energy models for structural motifs. However, the folding mechanism of transcription terminators is understood only partially, limiting the success of energy-model based identification. Neural networks have been proposed to overcome these limitations. However, their adoption for predicting and identifying RNA secondary structure has been a double edged sword: Neural networks promise to learn features that are not represented by the energy models, while they are black boxes that lack explicit modeling assumptions and may fail to account for features that are well understandable based on decades-old energy models. Here, we introduce a pre-training approach for neural networks that uses energy-model based inverse folding of structural motifs. As we demonstrate, this approach “brings back the energy model” to identify transcriptional terminators and overcomes the limitations of previous energy-model based predictions. Our approach works for diverse types of neural networks, and is suitable for the identification of structural motifs of many other RNA molecules beyond transcriptional terminators.
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Finstrlová A, Mašlaňová I, Blasdel Reuter BG, Doškař J, Götz F, Pantůček R. Global Transcriptomic Analysis of Bacteriophage-Host Interactions between a Kayvirus Therapeutic Phage and Staphylococcus aureus. Microbiol Spectr 2022; 10:e0012322. [PMID: 35435752 PMCID: PMC9241854 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00123-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Kayviruses are polyvalent broad host range staphylococcal phages with a potential to combat staphylococcal infections. However, the implementation of rational phage therapy in medicine requires a thorough understanding of the interactions between bacteriophages and pathogens at omics level. To evaluate the effect of a phage used in therapy on its host bacterium, we performed differential transcriptomic analysis by RNA-Seq from bacteriophage K of genus Kayvirus infecting two Staphylococcus aureus strains, prophage-less strain SH1000 and quadruple lysogenic strain Newman. The temporal transcriptional profile of phage K was comparable in both strains except for a few loci encoding hypothetical proteins. Stranded sequencing revealed transcription of phage noncoding RNAs that may play a role in the regulation of phage and host gene expression. The transcriptional response of S. aureus to phage K infection resembles a general stress response with differential expression of genes involved in a DNA damage response. The host transcriptional changes involved upregulation of nucleotide, amino acid and energy synthesis and transporter genes and downregulation of host transcription factors. The interaction of phage K with variable genetic elements of the host showed slight upregulation of gene expression of prophage integrases and antirepressors. The virulence genes involved in adhesion and immune evasion were only marginally affected, making phage K suitable for therapy. IMPORTANCE Bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is a common human and veterinary pathogen that causes mild to life-threatening infections. As strains of S. aureus are becoming increasingly resistant to multiple antibiotics, the need to search for new therapeutics is urgent. A promising alternative to antibiotic treatment of staphylococcal infections is a phage therapy using lytic phages from the genus Kayvirus. Here, we present a comprehensive view on the phage-bacterium interactions on transcriptomic level that improves the knowledge of molecular mechanisms underlying the Kayvirus lytic action. The results will ensure safer usage of the phage therapeutics and may also serve as a basis for the development of new antibacterial strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adéla Finstrlová
- Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Ivana Mašlaňová
- Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
| | | | - Jiří Doškař
- Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Friedrich Götz
- Microbial Genetics, Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infection Medicine Tübingen, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Roman Pantůček
- Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
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Davis CM, Ruest MK, Cole JH, Dennis JJ. The Isolation and Characterization of a Broad Host Range Bcep22-like Podovirus JC1. Viruses 2022; 14:938. [PMID: 35632679 PMCID: PMC9144972 DOI: 10.3390/v14050938] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2022] [Revised: 04/25/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Bacteriophage JC1 is a Podoviridae phage with a C1 morphotype, isolated on host strain Burkholderia cenocepacia Van1. Phage JC1 is capable of infecting an expansive range of Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) species. The JC1 genome exhibits significant similarity and synteny to Bcep22-like phages and to many Ralstonia phages. The genome of JC1 was determined to be 61,182 bp in length with a 65.4% G + C content and is predicted to encode 76 proteins and 1 tRNA gene. Unlike the other Lessieviruses, JC1 encodes a putative helicase gene in its replication module, and it is in a unique organization not found in previously analyzed phages. The JC1 genome also harbours 3 interesting moron genes, that encode a carbon storage regulator (CsrA), an N-acetyltransferase, and a phosphoadenosine phosphosulfate (PAPS) reductase. JC1 can stably lysogenize its host Van1 and integrates into the 5' end of the gene rimO. This is the first account of stable integration identified for Bcep22-like phages. JC1 has a higher global virulence index at 37 °C than at 30 °C (0.8 and 0.21, respectively); however, infection efficiency and lysogen stability are not affected by a change in temperature, and no observable temperature-sensitive switch between lytic and lysogenic lifestyle appears to exist. Although JC1 can stably lysogenize its host, it possesses some desirable characteristics for use in phage therapy. Phage JC1 has a broad host range and requires the inner core of the bacterial LPS for infection. Bacteria that mutate to evade infection by JC1 may develop a fitness disadvantage as seen in previously characterized LPS mutants lacking inner core.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Jonathan J. Dennis
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, CW 405 Biological Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada; (C.M.D.); (M.K.R.); (J.H.C.)
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30
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Zill D, Lettau E, Lorent C, Seifert F, Singh P, Lauterbach L. Crucial role of the chaperonin GroES/EL for heterologous production of the soluble methane monooxygenase from Methylomonas methanica MC09. Chembiochem 2022; 23:e202200195. [PMID: 35385600 PMCID: PMC9324122 DOI: 10.1002/cbic.202200195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Methane is a widespread energy source and can serve as an attractive C1 building block for a future bioeconomy. The soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO) is able to break the strong C−H bond of methane and convert it to methanol. The high structural complexity, multiplex cofactors, and unfamiliar folding or maturation procedures of sMMO have hampered the heterologous production and thus biotechnological applications. Here, we demonstrate the heterologous production of active sMMO from the marine Methylomonas methanica MC09 in Escherichia coli by co‐synthesizing the GroES/EL chaperonin. Iron determination, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, and native gel immunoblots revealed the incorporation of the non‐heme diiron centre and homodimer formation of active sMMO. The production of recombinant sMMO will enable the expansion of the possibilities of detailed studies, allowing for a variety of novel biotechnological applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Domenic Zill
- RWTH Aachen Fakultät für Mathematik Informatik und Naturwissenschaften: Rheinisch Westfalische Technische Hochschule Aachen Fakultat fur Mathematik Informatik und Naturwissenschaften, Institute of Applied Microbiology, GERMANY
| | - Elisabeth Lettau
- RWTH Aachen Faculty of Mathematics Computer Science and Natural Sciences: Rheinisch Westfalische Technische Hochschule Aachen Fakultat fur Mathematik Informatik und Naturwissenschaften, Institute of Applied Microbiology, GERMANY
| | - Christian Lorent
- TU Berlin: Technische Universitat Berlin, Institute for Chemistry, GERMANY
| | - Franziska Seifert
- Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg: Martin-Luther-Universitat Halle-Wittenberg, Institut für Pharmazeutische Technologie und Biopharmazie, GERMANY
| | - Praveen Singh
- RWTH Aachen Faculty of Mathematics Computer Science and Natural Sciences: Rheinisch Westfalische Technische Hochschule Aachen Fakultat fur Mathematik Informatik und Naturwissenschaften, Institute of Applied Microbiology, GERMANY
| | - Lars Lauterbach
- RWTH Aachen University: Rheinisch-Westfalische Technische Hochschule Aachen, Institute of Applied Microbiology, Worringer Weg 1, 52074, Aachen, GERMANY
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31
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The Role and Targets of the RNA-Binding Protein ProQ in the Gram-Negative Bacterial Pathogen Pasteurella multocida. J Bacteriol 2022; 204:e0059221. [PMID: 35323048 DOI: 10.1128/jb.00592-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The Gram-negative pathogen Pasteurella multocida is the causative agent of many important animal diseases. While a number of P. multocida virulence factors have been identified, very little is known about how gene expression and protein production is regulated in this organism. One mechanism by which bacteria regulate transcript abundance and protein production is riboregulation, which involves the interaction of a small RNA (sRNA) with a target mRNA to alter transcript stability and/or translational efficiency. This interaction often requires stabilization by an RNA-binding protein such as ProQ or Hfq. In Escherichia coli and a small number of other species, ProQ has been shown to play a critical role in stabilizing sRNA-mRNA interactions and preferentially binds to the 3' stem-loop regions of the mRNA transcripts, characteristic of intrinsic transcriptional terminators. The aim of this study was to determine the role of ProQ in regulating P. multocida transcript abundance and identify the RNA targets to which it binds. We assessed differentially expressed transcripts in a proQ mutant and identified sites of direct ProQ-RNA interaction using in vivo UV-cross-linking and analysis of cDNA (CRAC). These analyses demonstrated that ProQ binds to, and stabilizes, ProQ-dependent sRNAs and transfer RNAs in P. multocida via adenosine-enriched, highly structured sequences. The binding of ProQ to two RNA molecules was characterized, and these analyses showed that ProQ bound within the coding sequence of the transcript PmVP161_1121, encoding an uncharacterized protein, and within the 3' region of the putative sRNA Prrc13. IMPORTANCE Regulation in P. multocida involving the RNA-binding protein Hfq is required for hyaluronic acid capsule production and virulence. This study further expands our understanding of riboregulation by examining the role of a second RNA-binding protein, ProQ, in transcript regulation and abundance in P. multocida.
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Miguel-Arribas A, Wu LJ, Michaelis C, Yoshida KI, Grohmann E, Meijer WJJ. Conjugation Operons in Gram-Positive Bacteria with and without Antitermination Systems. Microorganisms 2022; 10:microorganisms10030587. [PMID: 35336162 PMCID: PMC8955417 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms10030587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2022] [Revised: 03/03/2022] [Accepted: 03/04/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Genes involved in the same cellular process are often clustered together in an operon whose expression is controlled by an upstream promoter. Generally, the activity of the promoter is strictly controlled. However, spurious transcription undermines this strict regulation, particularly affecting large operons. The negative effects of spurious transcription can be mitigated by the presence of multiple terminators inside the operon, in combination with an antitermination system. Antitermination systems modify the transcription elongation complexes and enable them to bypass terminators. Bacterial conjugation is the process by which a conjugative DNA element is transferred from a donor to a recipient cell. Conjugation involves many genes that are mostly organized in one or a few large operons. It has recently been shown that many conjugation operons present on plasmids replicating in Gram-positive bacteria possess a bipartite antitermination system that allows not only many terminators inside the conjugation operon to be bypassed, but also the differential expression of a subset of genes. Here, we show that some conjugation operons on plasmids belonging to the Inc18 family of Gram-positive broad host-range plasmids do not possess an antitermination system, suggesting that the absence of an antitermination system may have advantages. The possible (dis)advantages of conjugation operons possessing (or not) an antitermination system are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrés Miguel-Arribas
- Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CSIC-UAM), Instituto de Biología Molecular Eladio Viñuela (CSIC), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma, Canto Blanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain;
| | - Ling Juan Wu
- Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Medical Faculty, Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Richardson Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AX, UK;
| | - Claudia Michaelis
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Seestrasse 64, 13347 Berlin, Germany;
| | - Ken-ichi Yoshida
- Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai, Nada, Kobe 657-8501, Japan;
| | - Elisabeth Grohmann
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Seestrasse 64, 13347 Berlin, Germany;
- Correspondence: (E.G.); (W.J.J.M.); Tel.: +49-30-4504-3942 (E.G.); +34-91-196-4539 (W.J.J.M.)
| | - Wilfried J. J. Meijer
- Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CSIC-UAM), Instituto de Biología Molecular Eladio Viñuela (CSIC), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma, Canto Blanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain;
- Correspondence: (E.G.); (W.J.J.M.); Tel.: +49-30-4504-3942 (E.G.); +34-91-196-4539 (W.J.J.M.)
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Sun S, Yang J, Zhang Z. RNALigands: a database and web server for RNA-ligand interactions. RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2022; 28:115-122. [PMID: 34732566 PMCID: PMC8906548 DOI: 10.1261/rna.078889.121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2021] [Accepted: 10/25/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
RNA molecules can fold into complex and stable 3D structures, allowing them to carry out important genetic, structural, and regulatory roles inside the cell. These complex structures often contain 3D pockets made up of secondary structural motifs that can be potentially targeted by small molecule ligands. Indeed, many RNA structures in PDB contain bound small molecules, and high-throughput experimental studies have generated a large number of interacting RNA and ligand pairs. There is considerable interest in developing small molecule lead compounds targeting viral RNAs or those RNAs implicated in neurological diseases or cancer. We hypothesize that RNAs that have similar secondary structural motifs may bind to similar small molecule ligands. Toward this goal, we established a database collecting RNA secondary structural motifs and bound small molecule ligands. We further developed a computational pipeline, which takes as input an RNA sequence, predicts its secondary structure, extracts structural motifs, and searches the database for similar secondary structure motifs and interacting small molecule. We demonstrated the utility of the server by querying α-synuclein mRNA 5' UTR sequence and finding potential matches which were validated as correct. The server is publicly available at http://RNALigands.ccbr.utoronto.ca The source code can also be downloaded at https://github.com/SaisaiSun/RNALigands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saisai Sun
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, 710071, Shanxi, China
- Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E1, Canada
- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E1, Canada
| | - Jianyi Yang
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China
| | - Zhaolei Zhang
- Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E1, Canada
- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E1, Canada
- Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E1, Canada
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Holtappels D, Fortuna KJ, Moons L, Broeckaert N, Bäcker LE, Venneman S, Rombouts S, Lippens L, Baeyen S, Pollet S, Noben JP, Oechslin F, Vallino M, Aertsen A, Maes M, Van Vaerenbergh J, Lavigne R, Wagemans J. The potential of bacteriophages to control Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris at different stages of disease development. Microb Biotechnol 2022; 15:1762-1782. [PMID: 35084112 PMCID: PMC9151335 DOI: 10.1111/1751-7915.14004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2021] [Revised: 01/04/2022] [Accepted: 01/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) is a vascular pathogen that invades the xylem of Brassica crops. Current chemical and antibiotics‐based control measures for this bacterium are unsustainable and inefficient. After establishing a representative collection of Xcc strains, we isolated and characterized bacteriophages from two clades of phages to assess their potential in phage‐based biocontrol. The most promising phages, FoX2 and FoX6, specifically recognize (lipo) polysaccharides, associated with the wxc gene cluster, on the surface of the bacterial cell wall. Next, we determined and optimized the applicability of FoX2 and FoX6 in an array of complementary bioassays, ranging from seed decontamination to irrigation‐ and spray‐based applications. Here, an irrigation‐based application showed promising results. In a final proof‐of‐concept, a CaCl2‐formulated phage cocktail was shown to control the outbreak of Xcc in the open field. This comprehensive approach illustrates the potential of phage biocontrol of black rot disease in Brassica and serves as a reference for the broader implementation of phage biocontrol in integrated pest management strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Lauren Moons
- Laboratory of Gene Technology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | | | - Léon E Bäcker
- Laboratory of Food Microbiology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Sofie Venneman
- Proefstation voor de groenteteelt, Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium
| | - Sofie Rombouts
- Laboratory of Gene Technology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Louis Lippens
- Provinciaal Proefcentrum voor de Groenteteelt Oost-Vlaanderen, Kruishoutem, Belgium
| | - Steve Baeyen
- Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Ghent, Belgium
| | | | - Jean-Paul Noben
- Biomedical Research Institute and Transnational University Limburg, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium
| | - Frank Oechslin
- Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Marta Vallino
- Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, National Research Counsil of Italy, Turin, Italy
| | - Abram Aertsen
- Laboratory of Food Microbiology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | | | | | - Rob Lavigne
- Laboratory of Gene Technology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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35
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Hammerl JA, Barac A, Bienert A, Demir A, Drüke N, Jäckel C, Matthies N, Jun JW, Skurnik M, Ulrich J, Hertwig S. Birds Kept in the German Zoo "Tierpark Berlin" Are a Common Source for Polyvalent Yersinia pseudotuberculosis Phages. Front Microbiol 2022; 12:634289. [PMID: 35046908 PMCID: PMC8762354 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.634289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Yersinia pseudotuberculosis is an important animal pathogen, particularly for birds, rodents, and monkeys, which is also able to infect humans. Indeed, an increasing number of reports have been published on zoo animals that were killed by this species. One option to treat diseased animals is the application of strictly lytic (virulent) phages. However, thus far relatively few phages infecting Y. pseudotuberculosis have been isolated and characterized. To determine the prevalence of Y. pseudotuberculosis phages in zoo animals, fecal samples of birds and some primates, maras, and peccaries kept in the Tierpark Berlin were analyzed. Seventeen out of 74 samples taken in 2013 and 2017 contained virulent phages. The isolated phages were analyzed in detail and could be allocated to three groups. The first group is composed of 10 T4-like phages (PYps2T taxon group: Myoviridae; Tevenvirinae; Tequatrovirus), the second group (PYps23T taxon group: Chaseviridae; Carltongylesvirus; Escherichia virus ST32) consists of five phages encoding a podovirus-like RNA polymerase that is related to an uncommon genus of myoviruses (e.g., Escherichia coli phage phiEcoM-GJ1), while the third group is comprised of two podoviruses (PYps50T taxon group: Autographiviridae; Studiervirinae; Berlinvirus) which are closely related to T7. The host range of the isolated phages differed significantly. Between 5.5 and 86.7% of 128 Y. pseudotuberculosis strains belonging to 20 serotypes were lysed by each phage. All phages were additionally able to lyse Y. enterocolitica B4/O:3 strains, when incubated at 37°C. Some phages also infected Y. pestis strains and even strains belonging to other genera of Enterobacteriaceae. A cocktail containing two of these phages would be able to lyse almost 93% of the tested Y. pseudotuberculosis strains. The study indicates that Y. pseudotuberculosis phages exhibiting a broad-host range can be isolated quite easily from zoo animals, particularly birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jens Andre Hammerl
- Department of Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany
| | - Andrea Barac
- Department of Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anja Bienert
- Department of Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany
| | - Aslihan Demir
- Department of Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany
| | - Niklas Drüke
- Department of Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany
| | - Claudia Jäckel
- Department of Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany
| | - Nina Matthies
- Department of Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jin Woo Jun
- Department of Aquaculture, Korea National College of Agriculture and Fisheries, Jeonju, South Korea
| | - Mikael Skurnik
- Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, Medicum, Human Microbiome Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Division of Clinical Microbiology, HUSLAB, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Juliane Ulrich
- Department of Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany
| | - Stefan Hertwig
- Department of Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany
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36
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Finding and Characterizing Repeats in Plant Genomes. METHODS IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (CLIFTON, N.J.) 2022; 2443:327-385. [PMID: 35037215 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2067-0_18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Plant genomes contain a particularly high proportion of repeated structures of various types. This chapter proposes a guided tour of the available software that can help biologists to scan automatically for these repeats in sequence data or check hypothetical models intended to characterize their structures. Since transposable elements (TEs) are a major source of repeats in plants, many methods have been used or developed for this broad class of sequences. They are representative of the range of tools available for other classes of repeats and we have provided two sections on this topic (for the analysis of genomes or directly of sequenced reads), as well as a selection of the main existing software. It may be hard to keep up with the profusion of proposals in this dynamic field and the rest of the chapter is devoted to the foundations of an efficient search for repeats and more complex patterns. We first introduce the key concepts of the art of indexing and mapping or querying sequences. We end the chapter with the more prospective issue of building models of repeat families. We present the Machine Learning approach first, seeking to build predictors automatically for some families of ET, from a set of sequences known to belong to this family. A second approach, the linguistic (or syntactic) approach, allows biologists to describe themselves and check the validity of models of their favorite repeat family.
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Zeng C, Takeda A, Sekine K, Osato N, Fukunaga T, Hamada M. Bioinformatics Approaches for Determining the Functional Impact of Repetitive Elements on Non-coding RNAs. Methods Mol Biol 2022; 2509:315-340. [PMID: 35796972 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2380-0_19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
With a large number of annotated non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), repetitive sequences are found to constitute functional components (termed as repetitive elements) in ncRNAs that perform specific biological functions. Bioinformatics analysis is a powerful tool for improving our understanding of the role of repetitive elements in ncRNAs. This chapter summarizes recent findings that reveal the role of repetitive elements in ncRNAs. Furthermore, relevant bioinformatics approaches are systematically reviewed, which promises to provide valuable resources for studying the functional impact of repetitive elements on ncRNAs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao Zeng
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
- AIST-Waseda University Computational Bio Big-Data Open Innovation Laboratory (CBBD-OIL), Tokyo, Japan.
| | - Atsushi Takeda
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kotaro Sekine
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Naoki Osato
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Tsukasa Fukunaga
- Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Michiaki Hamada
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
- AIST-Waseda University Computational Bio Big-Data Open Innovation Laboratory (CBBD-OIL), Tokyo, Japan.
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Tourasse NJ, Darfeuille F. T1TAdb: the database of type I toxin-antitoxin systems. RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2021; 27:1471-1481. [PMID: 34531327 PMCID: PMC8594479 DOI: 10.1261/rna.078802.121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2021] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
Type I toxin-antitoxin (T1TA) systems constitute a large class of genetic modules with antisense RNA (asRNA)-mediated regulation of gene expression. They are widespread in bacteria and consist of an mRNA coding for a toxic protein and a noncoding asRNA that acts as an antitoxin preventing the synthesis of the toxin by directly base-pairing to its cognate mRNA. The co- and post-transcriptional regulation of T1TA systems is intimately linked to RNA sequence and structure, therefore it is essential to have an accurate annotation of the mRNA and asRNA molecules to understand this regulation. However, most T1TA systems have been identified by means of bioinformatic analyses solely based on the toxin protein sequences, and there is no central repository of information on their specific RNA features. Here we present the first database dedicated to type I TA systems, named T1TAdb. It is an open-access web database (https://d-lab.arna.cnrs.fr/t1tadb) with a collection of ∼1900 loci in ∼500 bacterial strains in which a toxin-coding sequence has been previously identified. RNA molecules were annotated with a bioinformatic procedure based on key determinants of the mRNA structure and the genetic organization of the T1TA loci. Besides RNA and protein secondary structure predictions, T1TAdb also identifies promoter, ribosome-binding, and mRNA-asRNA interaction sites. It also includes tools for comparative analysis, such as sequence similarity search and computation of structural multiple alignments, which are annotated with covariation information. To our knowledge, T1TAdb represents the largest collection of features, sequences, and structural annotations on this class of genetic modules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas J Tourasse
- University of Bordeaux, CNRS, INSERM, ARNA, UMR 5320, U1212, F-33000 Bordeaux, France
| | - Fabien Darfeuille
- University of Bordeaux, CNRS, INSERM, ARNA, UMR 5320, U1212, F-33000 Bordeaux, France
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A Genome-Scale Antibiotic Screen in Serratia marcescens Identifies YdgH as a Conserved Modifier of Cephalosporin and Detergent Susceptibility. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2021; 65:e0078621. [PMID: 34491801 DOI: 10.1128/aac.00786-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Serratia marcescens, a member of the order Enterobacterales, is adept at colonizing health care environments and is an important cause of invasive infections. Antibiotic resistance is a daunting problem in S. marcescens because, in addition to plasmid-mediated mechanisms, most isolates have considerable intrinsic resistance to multiple antibiotic classes. To discover endogenous modifiers of antibiotic susceptibility in S. marcescens, a high-density transposon insertion library was subjected to sub-MICs of two cephalosporins, cefoxitin, and cefepime, as well as the fluoroquinolone ciprofloxacin. Comparisons of transposon insertion abundance before and after antibiotic exposure identified hundreds of potential modifiers of susceptibility to these agents. Using single-gene deletions, we validated several candidate modifiers of cefoxitin susceptibility and chose ydgH, a gene of unknown function, for further characterization. In addition to cefoxitin, deletion of ydgH in S. marcescens resulted in decreased susceptibility to multiple third-generation cephalosporins and, in contrast, to increased susceptibility to both cationic and anionic detergents. YdgH is highly conserved throughout the Enterobacterales, and we observed similar phenotypes in Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Enterobacter cloacae mutants. YdgH is predicted to localize to the periplasm, and we speculate that it may be involved there in cell envelope homeostasis. Collectively, our findings provide insight into chromosomal mediators of antibiotic resistance in S. marcescens and will serve as a resource for further investigations of this important pathogen.
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Zhang R, Endo H, Takemura M, Ogata H. RNA Sequencing of Medusavirus Suggests Remodeling of the Host Nuclear Environment at an Early Infection Stage. Microbiol Spectr 2021; 9:e0006421. [PMID: 34585975 PMCID: PMC8557863 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00064-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Viruses of the phylum Nucleocytoviricota, or nucleo-cytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDVs), undergo a cytoplasmic or nucleo-cytoplasmic cycle, the latter of which involves both nuclear and cytoplasmic compartments to proceed viral replication. Medusavirus, a recently isolated NCLDV, has a nucleo-cytoplasmic replication cycle in amoebas during which the host nuclear membrane apparently remains intact, a unique feature among amoeba-infecting NCLDVs. The medusavirus genome lacks most transcription genes but encodes a full set of histone genes. To investigate its infection strategy, we performed a time course RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) experiment. All viral genes were transcribed and classified into five temporal expression clusters. The immediate early genes (cluster 1, 42 genes) were mostly (83%) of unknown functions, frequently (95%) associated with a palindromic promoter-like motif, and often (45%) encoded putative nucleus-localized proteins. These results suggest massive reshaping of the host nuclear environment by viral proteins at an early stage of infection. Genes in other expression clusters (clusters 2 to 5) were assigned to various functional categories. The virally encoded core histone genes were in cluster 3, whereas the viral linker histone H1 gene was in cluster 1, suggesting they have distinct roles during the course of the virus infection. The transcriptional profile of the host Acanthamoeba castellanii genes was greatly altered postinfection. Several encystment-related host genes showed increased representation levels at 48 h postinfection, which is consistent with the previously reported amoeba encystment upon medusavirus infection. IMPORTANCE Medusavirus is an amoeba-infecting giant virus that was isolated from a hot spring in Japan. It belongs to the proposed family "Medusaviridae" in the phylum Nucleocytoviricota. Unlike other amoeba-infecting giant viruses, medusavirus initiates its DNA replication in the host nucleus without disrupting the nuclear membrane. Our RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis of its infection course uncovered ordered viral gene expression profiles. We identified temporal expression clusters of viral genes and associated putative promoter motifs. The subcellular localization prediction showed a clear spatiotemporal correlation between gene expression timing and localization of the encoded proteins. Notably, the immediate early expression cluster was enriched in genes targeting the nucleus, suggesting the priority of remodeling the host intranuclear environment during infection. The transcriptional profile of amoeba genes was greatly altered postinfection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruixuan Zhang
- Bioinformatics Center, Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Japan
| | - Hisashi Endo
- Bioinformatics Center, Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Japan
| | - Masaharu Takemura
- Laboratory of Biology, Institute of Arts and Sciences, Tokyo University of Science, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Hiroyuki Ogata
- Bioinformatics Center, Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Japan
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Hammerl JA, Barac A, Erben P, Fuhrmann J, Gadicherla A, Kumsteller F, Lauckner A, Müller F, Hertwig S. Properties of Two Broad Host Range Phages of Yersinia enterocolitica Isolated from Wild Animals. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:11381. [PMID: 34768812 PMCID: PMC8583763 DOI: 10.3390/ijms222111381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2021] [Revised: 10/11/2021] [Accepted: 10/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Yersinia (Y.) enterocolitica and Y. pseudotuberculosis are important zoonotic agents which can infect both humans and animals. To combat these pathogens, the application of strictly lytic phages may be a promising tool. Since only few Yersinia phages have been described yet, some of which demonstrated a high specificity for certain serotypes, we isolated two phages from game animals and characterized them in terms of their morphology, host specificity, lytic activity on two bio-/serotypes and genome composition. The T7-related podovirus vB_YenP_Rambo and the myovirus vB_YenM_P281, which is very similar to a previously described phage PY100, showed a broad host range. Together, they lysed all the 62 tested pathogenic Y. enterocolitica strains belonging to the most important bio-/serotypes in Europe. A cocktail containing these two phages strongly reduced cultures of a bio-/serotype B4/O:3 and a B2/O:9 strain, even at very low MOIs (multiplicity of infection) and different temperatures, though, lysis of bio-/serotype B2/O:9 by vB_YenM_P281 and also by the related phage PY100 only occurred at 37 °C. Both phages were additionally able to lyse various Y. pseudotuberculosis strains at 28 °C and 37 °C, but only when the growth medium was supplemented with calcium and magnesium cations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Stefan Hertwig
- Department of Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Max-Dohrn Str. 8-10, D-10589 Berlin, Germany; (J.A.H.); (A.B.); (P.E.); (J.F.); (A.G.); (F.K.); (A.L.); (F.M.)
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42
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Zhou T, Wang H, Zeng C, Zhao Y. RPocket: an intuitive database of RNA pocket topology information with RNA-ligand data resources. BMC Bioinformatics 2021; 22:428. [PMID: 34496744 PMCID: PMC8424408 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-021-04349-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2021] [Accepted: 08/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background RNA regulates a variety of biological functions by interacting with other molecules. The ligand often binds in the RNA pocket to trigger structural changes or functions. Thus, it is essential to explore and visualize the RNA pocket to elucidate the structural and recognition mechanism for the RNA-ligand complex formation. Results In this work, we developed one user-friendly bioinformatics tool, RPocket. This database provides geometrical size, centroid, shape, secondary structure element for RNA pocket, RNA-ligand interaction information, and functional sites. We extracted 240 RNA pockets from 94 non-redundant RNA-ligand complex structures. We developed RPDescriptor to calculate the pocket geometrical property quantitatively. The geometrical information was then subjected to RNA-ligand binding analysis by incorporating the sequence, secondary structure, and geometrical combinations. This new approach takes advantage of both the atom-level precision of the structure and the nucleotide-level tertiary interactions. The results show that the higher-level topological pattern indeed improves the tertiary structure prediction. We also proposed a potential mechanism for RNA-ligand complex formation. The electrostatic interactions are responsible for long-range recognition, while the Van der Waals and hydrophobic contacts for short-range binding and optimization. These interaction pairs can be considered as distance constraints to guide complex structural modeling and drug design. Conclusion RPocket database would facilitate RNA-ligand engineering to regulate the complex formation for biological or medical applications. RPocket is available at http://zhaoserver.com.cn/RPocket/RPocket.html. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12859-021-04349-4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ting Zhou
- Department of Physics, Institute of Biophysics, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, China
| | - Huiwen Wang
- Department of Physics, Institute of Biophysics, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, China
| | - Chen Zeng
- Department of Physics, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA
| | - Yunjie Zhao
- Department of Physics, Institute of Biophysics, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, China.
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43
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In Silico Prediction for ncRNAs in Prokaryotes. Methods Mol Biol 2021. [PMID: 34251633 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1534-8_18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register]
Abstract
The identification and characterization of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in prokaryotes is an important step in the study of the interaction of these molecules with mRNAs-or target proteins, in the post-transcriptional regulation process. Here, we describe one of the main in silico prediction methods in prokaryotes, using the TargetRNA2 tool to predict target mRNAs.
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Gómez-García G, Ruiz-Enamorado A, Yuste L, Rojo F, Moreno R. Expression of the ISPpu9 transposase of Pseudomonas putida KT2440 is regulated by two small RNAs and the secondary structure of the mRNA 5'-untranslated region. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:9211-9228. [PMID: 34379788 PMCID: PMC8450116 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Revised: 06/23/2021] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Insertion sequences (ISs) are mobile genetic elements that only carry the information required for their own transposition. Pseudomonas putida KT2440, a model bacterium, has seven copies of an IS called ISPpu9 inserted into repetitive extragenic palindromic sequences. This work shows that the gene for ISPpu9 transposase, tnp, is regulated by two small RNAs (sRNAs) named Asr9 and Ssr9, which are encoded upstream and downstream of tnp, respectively. The tnp mRNA has a long 5′-untranslated region (5′-UTR) that can fold into a secondary structure that likely includes the ribosome-binding site (RBS). Mutations weakening this structure increased tnp mRNA translation. Asr9, an antisense sRNA complementary to the 5′-UTR, was shown to be very stable. Eliminating Asr9 considerably reduced tnp mRNA translation, suggesting that it helps to unfold this secondary structure, exposing the RBS. Ectopic overproduction of Asr9 increased the transposition frequency of a new ISPpu9 entering the cell by conjugation, suggesting improved tnp expression. Ssr9 has significant complementarity to Asr9 and annealed to it in vitro forming an RNA duplex; this would sequester it and possibly facilitate its degradation. Thus, the antisense Asr9 sRNA likely facilitates tnp expression, improving transposition, while Ssr9 might counteract Asr9, keeping tnp expression low.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillermo Gómez-García
- Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, CSIC, Madrid 28049, Spain
| | - Angel Ruiz-Enamorado
- Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, CSIC, Madrid 28049, Spain
| | - Luis Yuste
- Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, CSIC, Madrid 28049, Spain
| | - Fernando Rojo
- Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, CSIC, Madrid 28049, Spain
| | - Renata Moreno
- Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, CSIC, Madrid 28049, Spain
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Craig RJ, Yushenova IA, Rodriguez F, Arkhipova IR. An ancient clade of Penelope-like retroelements with permuted domains is present in the green lineage and protists, and dominates many invertebrate genomes. Mol Biol Evol 2021; 38:5005-5020. [PMID: 34320655 PMCID: PMC8557442 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msab225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Penelope-like elements (PLEs) are an enigmatic clade of retrotransposons whose reverse transcriptases (RTs) share a most recent common ancestor with telomerase RTs. The single ORF of canonical endonuclease (EN)+ PLEs encodes RT and a C-terminal GIY–YIG EN that enables intrachromosomal integration, whereas EN− PLEs lack EN and are generally restricted to chromosome termini. EN+ PLEs have only been found in animals, except for one case of horizontal transfer to conifers, whereas EN− PLEs occur in several kingdoms. Here, we report a new, deep-branching PLE clade with a permuted domain order, whereby an N-terminal GIY–YIG EN is linked to a C-terminal RT by a short domain with a characteristic CxC motif. These N-terminal EN+ PLEs share a structural organization, including pseudo-LTRs and complex tandem/inverted insertions, with canonical EN+ PLEs from Penelope/Poseidon, Neptune, and Nematis clades, and show insertion bias for microsatellites, but lack canonical hammerhead ribozyme motifs. However, their phylogenetic distribution is much broader. The Naiads, found in numerous invertebrate phyla, can reach tens of thousands of copies per genome. In spiders and clams, Naiads independently evolved to encode selenoproteins containing multiple selenocysteines. Chlamys, which lack the CCHH motif universal to PLE ENs, occur in green algae, spike mosses (targeting ribosomal DNA), and slime molds. Unlike canonical PLEs, RTs of N-terminal EN+ PLEs contain the insertion-in-fingers domain (IFD), strengthening the link between PLEs and telomerases. Additionally, we describe Hydra, a novel metazoan C-terminal EN+ clade. Overall, we conclude that PLE diversity, taxonomic distribution, and abundance are comparable with non-LTR and LTR-retrotransposons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rory J Craig
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Irina A Yushenova
- Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA
| | - Fernando Rodriguez
- Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA
| | - Irina R Arkhipova
- Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA
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46
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Weinberg CE, Olzog VJ, Eckert I, Weinberg Z. Identification of over 200-fold more hairpin ribozymes than previously known in diverse circular RNAs. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:6375-6388. [PMID: 34096583 PMCID: PMC8216279 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Self-cleaving ribozymes are catalytic RNAs that cut themselves at a specific inter-nucleotide linkage. They serve as a model of RNA catalysis, and as an important tool in biotechnology. For most of the nine known structural classes of self-cleaving ribozymes, at least hundreds of examples are known, and some are present in multiple domains of life. By contrast, only four unique examples of the hairpin ribozyme class are known, despite its discovery in 1986. We bioinformatically predicted 941 unique hairpin ribozymes of a different permuted form from the four previously known hairpin ribozymes, and experimentally confirmed several diverse predictions. These results profoundly expand the number of natural hairpin ribozymes, enabling biochemical analysis based on natural sequences, and suggest that a distinct permuted form is more biologically relevant. Moreover, all novel hairpins were discovered in metatranscriptomes. They apparently reside in RNA molecules that vary both in size—from 381 to 5170 nucleotides—and in protein content. The RNA molecules likely replicate as circular single-stranded RNAs, and potentially provide a dramatic increase in diversity of such RNAs. Moreover, these organisms have eluded previous attempts to isolate RNA viruses from metatranscriptomes—suggesting a significant untapped universe of viruses or other organisms hidden within metatranscriptome sequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina E Weinberg
- Institute for Biochemistry, Leipzig University, Brüderstraße 34, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - V Janett Olzog
- Institute for Biochemistry, Leipzig University, Brüderstraße 34, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Iris Eckert
- Bioinformatics Group, Department of Computer Science and Interdisciplinary Centre for Bioinformatics, Leipzig University, Härtelstraße 16-18, 04107 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Zasha Weinberg
- Bioinformatics Group, Department of Computer Science and Interdisciplinary Centre for Bioinformatics, Leipzig University, Härtelstraße 16-18, 04107 Leipzig, Germany
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47
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Pratama AA, Bolduc B, Zayed AA, Zhong ZP, Guo J, Vik DR, Gazitúa MC, Wainaina JM, Roux S, Sullivan MB. Expanding standards in viromics: in silico evaluation of dsDNA viral genome identification, classification, and auxiliary metabolic gene curation. PeerJ 2021; 9:e11447. [PMID: 34178438 PMCID: PMC8210812 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.11447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2020] [Accepted: 04/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Viruses influence global patterns of microbial diversity and nutrient cycles. Though viral metagenomics (viromics), specifically targeting dsDNA viruses, has been critical for revealing viral roles across diverse ecosystems, its analyses differ in many ways from those used for microbes. To date, viromics benchmarking has covered read pre-processing, assembly, relative abundance, read mapping thresholds and diversity estimation, but other steps would benefit from benchmarking and standardization. Here we use in silico-generated datasets and an extensive literature survey to evaluate and highlight how dataset composition (i.e., viromes vs bulk metagenomes) and assembly fragmentation impact (i) viral contig identification tool, (ii) virus taxonomic classification, and (iii) identification and curation of auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs). RESULTS The in silico benchmarking of five commonly used virus identification tools show that gene-content-based tools consistently performed well for long (≥3 kbp) contigs, while k-mer- and blast-based tools were uniquely able to detect viruses from short (≤3 kbp) contigs. Notably, however, the performance increase of k-mer- and blast-based tools for short contigs was obtained at the cost of increased false positives (sometimes up to ∼5% for virome and ∼75% bulk samples), particularly when eukaryotic or mobile genetic element sequences were included in the test datasets. For viral classification, variously sized genome fragments were assessed using gene-sharing network analytics to quantify drop-offs in taxonomic assignments, which revealed correct assignations ranging from ∼95% (whole genomes) down to ∼80% (3 kbp sized genome fragments). A similar trend was also observed for other viral classification tools such as VPF-class, ViPTree and VIRIDIC, suggesting that caution is warranted when classifying short genome fragments and not full genomes. Finally, we highlight how fragmented assemblies can lead to erroneous identification of AMGs and outline a best-practices workflow to curate candidate AMGs in viral genomes assembled from metagenomes. CONCLUSION Together, these benchmarking experiments and annotation guidelines should aid researchers seeking to best detect, classify, and characterize the myriad viruses 'hidden' in diverse sequence datasets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akbar Adjie Pratama
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Benjamin Bolduc
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Ahmed A. Zayed
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Zhi-Ping Zhong
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Jiarong Guo
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Dean R. Vik
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | | | - James M. Wainaina
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Infectious Diseases Institute at The Ohio State University, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Simon Roux
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States of America
| | - Matthew B. Sullivan
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Environmental and Geodetic Engineering, Ohio State University, Department of Civil, Columbus, OH, United States of America
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48
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Bhaskar Y, Su X, Xu C, Xu J. Predicting Selective RNA Processing and Stabilization Operons in Clostridium spp. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:673349. [PMID: 34177856 PMCID: PMC8219983 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.673349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2021] [Accepted: 04/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
In selective RNA processing and stabilization (SRPS) operons, stem–loops (SLs) located at the 3′-UTR region of selected genes can control the stability of the corresponding transcripts and determine the stoichiometry of the operon. Here, for such operons, we developed a computational approach named SLOFE (stem–loop free energy) that identifies the SRPS operons and predicts their transcript- and protein-level stoichiometry at the whole-genome scale using only the genome sequence via the minimum free energy (ΔG) of specific SLs in the intergenic regions within operons. As validated by the experimental approach of differential RNA-Seq, SLOFE identifies genome-wide SRPS operons in Clostridium cellulolyticum with 80% accuracy and reveals that the SRPS mechanism contributes to diverse cellular activities. Moreover, in the identified SRPS operons, SLOFE predicts the transcript- and protein-level stoichiometry, including those encoding cellulosome complexes, ATP synthases, ABC transporter family proteins, and ribosomal proteins. Its accuracy exceeds those of existing in silico approaches in C. cellulolyticum, Clostridium acetobutylicum, Clostridium thermocellum, and Bacillus subtilis. The ability to identify genome-wide SRPS operons and predict their stoichiometry via DNA sequence in silico should facilitate studying the function and evolution of SRPS operons in bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yogendra Bhaskar
- Single-Cell Center and CAS Key Laboratory of Biofuels and Shandong Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoquan Su
- Single-Cell Center and CAS Key Laboratory of Biofuels and Shandong Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China
| | - Chenggang Xu
- Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Institute of Biotechnology, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Jian Xu
- Single-Cell Center and CAS Key Laboratory of Biofuels and Shandong Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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49
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Zammit A, Helwerda L, Olsthoorn RCL, Verbeek FJ, Gultyaev AP. A database of flavivirus RNA structures with a search algorithm for pseudoknots and triple base interactions. Bioinformatics 2021; 37:956-962. [PMID: 32866223 PMCID: PMC8128465 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btaa759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2020] [Revised: 08/19/2020] [Accepted: 08/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Motivation The Flavivirus genus includes several important pathogens, such as Zika, dengue and yellow fever virus. Flavivirus RNA genomes contain a number of functionally important structures in their 3′ untranslated regions (3′UTRs). Due to the diversity of sequences and topologies of these structures, their identification is often difficult. In contrast, predictions of such structures are important for understanding of flavivirus replication cycles and development of antiviral strategies. Results We have developed an algorithm for structured pattern search in RNA sequences, including secondary structures, pseudoknots and triple base interactions. Using the data on known conserved flavivirus 3′UTR structures, we constructed structural descriptors which covered the diversity of patterns in these motifs. The descriptors and the search algorithm were used for the construction of a database of flavivirus 3′UTR structures. Validating this approach, we identified a number of domains matching a general pattern of exoribonuclease Xrn1-resistant RNAs in the growing group of insect-specific flaviviruses. Availability and implementation The Leiden Flavivirus RNA Structure Database is available at https://rna.liacs.nl. The search algorithm is available at https://github.com/LeidenRNA/SRHS. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan Zammit
- Group Imaging & Bioinformatics, Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Leiden University, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Leon Helwerda
- Group Imaging & Bioinformatics, Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Leiden University, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - René C L Olsthoorn
- Group Supramolecular & Biomaterials Chemistry, Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Fons J Verbeek
- Group Imaging & Bioinformatics, Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Leiden University, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Alexander P Gultyaev
- Group Imaging & Bioinformatics, Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Leiden University, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.,Department of Viroscience, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, 3000 CA, The Netherlands
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50
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Miguel-Arribas A, Val-Calvo J, Gago-Córdoba C, Izquierdo JM, Abia D, Wu LJ, Errington J, Meijer WJJ. A novel bipartite antitermination system widespread in conjugative elements of Gram-positive bacteria. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:5553-5567. [PMID: 33999173 PMCID: PMC8191782 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2021] [Revised: 04/09/2021] [Accepted: 04/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Transcriptional regulation allows adaptive and coordinated gene expression, and is essential for life. Processive antitermination systems alter the transcription elongation complex to allow the RNA polymerase to read through multiple terminators in an operon. Here, we describe the discovery of a novel bipartite antitermination system that is widespread among conjugative elements from Gram-positive bacteria, which we named conAn. This system is composed of a large RNA element that exerts antitermination, and a protein that functions as a processivity factor. Besides allowing coordinated expression of very long operons, we show that these systems allow differential expression of genes within an operon, and probably contribute to strict regulation of the conjugation genes by minimizing the effects of spurious transcription. Mechanistic features of the conAn system are likely to decisively influence its host range, with important implications for the spread of antibiotic resistance and virulence genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrés Miguel-Arribas
- Centro de Biología Molecular "Severo Ochoa" (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Canto Blanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Jorge Val-Calvo
- Centro de Biología Molecular "Severo Ochoa" (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Canto Blanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - César Gago-Córdoba
- Centro de Biología Molecular "Severo Ochoa" (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Canto Blanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - José M Izquierdo
- Centro de Biología Molecular "Severo Ochoa" (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Canto Blanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - David Abia
- Bioinformatics Facility, Centro de Biología Molecular "Severo Ochoa", (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Canto Blanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Ling Juan Wu
- Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Richardson Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE2 4AX, UK
| | - Jeff Errington
- Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Richardson Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE2 4AX, UK
| | - Wilfried J J Meijer
- Centro de Biología Molecular "Severo Ochoa" (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Canto Blanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
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