Sponge RNA controlled quorum sensing transition in Vibrio cholerae

霍乱弧菌中海绵 RNA 控制的群体感应转变

• 批准号: 285804960
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Kai Papenfort
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Professur für Mikrobielle Genregulation
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2014-12-31 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/285804960?language=en
• 关键词: Sponge; RNA; controlled; quorum; sensing

Quorum sensing (QS) is a central behavior-coordination mechanism in many microorganisms. In Vibrio cholerae, a major human pathogen and model organism for studying microbial communication, QS is key for various collective functions including biofilm formation and virulence. To accurately execute QS behaviors, V. cholerae must detect, interpret, and integrate extracellular chemical signaling molecules (called autoinducers) and convert that information into changes in gene expression. To this end, V. cholerae employs an array of transcriptional regulators and small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) building an interconnected network guaranteeing optimal QS performance. In this project, we aim to study a previously unknown component of the network, called QrrS. QrrS belongs to the yet poorly studied group of sponge RNAs, i.e. non-coding regulators that act specifically to counteract the action of another non-coding regulator. The preliminary data presented in this proposal show that QrrS base-pairs with and inhibits the function of the Qrr1-4 sRNAs, which are the principal regulatory components of the QS pathway in V. cholerae. Indeed, we discovered that V. cholerae cells lacking qrrS fail to shift accurately from low- to high-cell densities and consequently we predict that QrrS affects gene expression at a global scale. We also identified a new transcriptional regulator (QrrT) driving qrrS expression, which we also aim to study in this project. Together, we believe that the proposed research will make an important contribution to the QS pathway in V. cholerae, but will also add to a more general understanding of QS network architectures and how sponge RNAs are integrated into these systems.

群体感应（QS）是许多微生物的一种重要的行为协调机制。在霍乱弧菌（一种主要的人类病原体和研究微生物通讯的模式生物）中，QS对于包括生物膜形成和毒力在内的各种集体功能至关重要。为了准确地执行QS行为，霍乱弧菌必须检测、解释和整合细胞外化学信号分子（称为自诱导物），并将该信息转化为基因表达的变化。为此，霍乱弧菌采用了一系列转录调节因子和小调控RNA（sRNA），构建了一个相互连接的网络，保证了最佳的QS性能。在这个项目中，我们的目标是研究一个以前未知的网络组件，称为QrrS。QrrS属于海绵RNA组，但研究得很少，即非编码调节因子，其特异性地起作用以抵消另一种非编码调节因子的作用。该提案中提供的初步数据表明，QrrS与Qrr 1 -4 sRNA碱基配对并抑制其功能，Qrr 1 -4 sRNA是霍乱弧菌中QS途径的主要调节组分。事实上，我们发现缺乏qrrS的霍乱弧菌细胞无法准确地从低细胞密度转移到高细胞密度，因此我们预测QrrS在全球范围内影响基因表达。我们还确定了一个新的转录调控因子（QrrT）驱动qrrS表达，我们也打算在这个项目中研究。总之，我们相信，拟议的研究将对霍乱弧菌的QS途径做出重要贡献，但也将增加对QS网络架构以及海绵RNA如何整合到这些系统中的更全面理解。