OmpA, a common virulence factor, is under RNA thermometer control in \(\textit {Yersinia pseudotuberculosis}\)
- The outer membrane protein OmpA is a virulence factor in many mammalian pathogens. In previous global RNA structure probing studies, we found evidence for a temperature-modulated RNA structure in the 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) of the \(\textit {Yersinia pseudotuberculosis ompA}\) transcript suggesting that opening of the structure at host-body temperature might relieve translational repression. Here, we support this hypothesis by quantitative reverse transcription PCR, translational reporter gene fusions, enzymatic RNA structure probing, and toeprinting assays. While \(\it ompA\) transcript levels decreased at 37°C compared to 25°C, translation of the transcript increased with increasing temperature. Biochemical experiments show that this is due to melting of the RNA structure, which permits ribosome binding to the 5'-UTR. A point mutation that locks the RNA structure in a closed conformation prevents translation by impairing ribosome access. Our findings add another common virulence factor to the growing list of pathogen-associated genes that are under RNA thermometer control.
| Author: | Daniel SchellerGND, Christian TwittenhoffGND, Franziska BeckerGND, Marcel HollerGND, Franz NarberhausORCiDGND |
|---|---|
| URN: | urn:nbn:de:hbz:294-82631 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.687260 |
| Parent Title (English): | Frontiers in microbiology |
| Publisher: | Frontiers Media |
| Place of publication: | Lausanne |
| Document Type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Date of Publication (online): | 2021/08/06 |
| Date of first Publication: | 2021/05/14 |
| Publishing Institution: | Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsbibliothek |
| Tag: | Open Access Fonds RNA structure; gene expression; outer membrane protein; pathogen; porin; thermosensor; virulence |
| Volume: | 12 |
| Issue: | Article 687260 |
| First Page: | 687260-1 |
| Last Page: | 687260-11 |
| Note: | Article Processing Charge funded by the Open Access Publication Fund of Ruhr-Universität Bochum. |
| Institutes/Facilities: | Lehrstuhl für Biologie der Mikroorganismen |
| open_access (DINI-Set): | open_access |
| faculties: | Fakultät für Biologie und Biotechnologie |
| Licence (English): |  Creative Commons - CC BY 4.0 - Attribution 4.0 International |
