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- Title
Interplay of two small RNAs fine-tunes hierarchical flagella gene expression in Campylobacter jejuni.
- Authors
König, Fabian; Svensson, Sarah L.; Sharma, Cynthia M.
- Abstract
Like for many bacteria, flagella are crucial for Campylobacter jejuni motility and virulence. Biogenesis of the flagellar machinery requires hierarchical transcription of early, middle (RpoN-dependent), and late (FliA-dependent) genes. However, little is known about post-transcriptional regulation of flagellar biogenesis by small RNAs (sRNAs). Here, we characterized two sRNAs with opposing effects on C. jejuni filament assembly and motility. We demonstrate that CJnc230 sRNA (FlmE), encoded downstream of the flagellar hook protein, is processed from the RpoN-dependent flgE mRNA by RNase III, RNase Y, and PNPase. We identify mRNAs encoding a flagella-interaction regulator and the anti-sigma factor FlgM as direct targets of CJnc230 repression. CJnc230 overexpression upregulates late genes, including the flagellin flaA, culminating in longer flagella and increased motility. In contrast, overexpression of the FliA-dependent sRNA CJnc170 (FlmR) reduces flagellar length and motility. Overall, our study demonstrates how the interplay of two sRNAs post-transcriptionally fine-tunes flagellar biogenesis through balancing of the hierarchically-expressed components. Koenig et al. describe two Campylobacter small RNAs (FlmE and FlmR) that are co-regulated within the flagellar transcriptional cascade and together post-transcriptionally fine-tune expression of components during flagellar biogenesis.
- Subjects
CAMPYLOBACTER jejuni; NON-coding RNA; GENE expression; FLAGELLA (Microbiology); GENETIC transcription
- Publication
Nature Communications, 2024, Vol 15, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2041-1723
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s41467-024-48986-8