1. Functional Characterization of the RNA Chaperone Hfq in the Opportunistic Human Pathogen Stenotrophomonas maltophilia
- Author
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Emanuela Roscetto, Konrad U. Förstner, Eliana De Gregorio, Maria Assunta Casalino, Tiziana Angrisano, Pier Paolo Di Nocera, Cynthia M. Sharma, Valerio Costa, Roscetto, Emanuela, Angrisano, Tiziana, Costa, Valerio, Casalino, Maria Assunta, Förstner, Konrad U, Sharma, Cynthia M, Di Nocera, Pier Paolo, and De Gregorio, Eliana
- Subjects
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia ,Molecular Sequence Data ,RNA-binding protein ,Human pathogen ,Microbial Sensitivity Tests ,Host Factor 1 Protein ,Biology ,Microbiology ,Bacterial Adhesion ,Mice ,Animals ,Humans ,Amino Acid Sequence ,Northern blot ,Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Hfq, RNA binding protein ,Molecular Biology ,Gene ,Macrophages ,Biofilm ,RNA ,Epithelial Cells ,Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial ,Articles ,biochemical phenomena, metabolism, and nutrition ,bacterial infections and mycoses ,biology.organism_classification ,Transmembrane protein ,Anti-Bacterial Agents ,RNA, Bacterial ,Biofilms ,bacteria ,Sequence Alignment ,Gene Deletion ,Locomotion ,Molecular Chaperones - Abstract
Hfq is an RNA-binding protein known to regulate a variety of cellular processes by interacting with small RNAs (sRNAs) and mRNAs in prokaryotes. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an important opportunistic pathogen affecting primarily hospitalized and immunocompromised hosts. We constructed an hfq deletion mutant (Δ hfq ) of S. maltophilia and compared the behaviors of wild-type and Δ hfq S. maltophilia cells in a variety of assays. This revealed that S. maltophilia Hfq plays a role in biofilm formation and cell motility, as well as susceptibility to antimicrobial agents. Moreover, Hfq is crucial for adhesion to bronchial epithelial cells and is required for the replication of S. maltophilia in macrophages. Differential RNA sequencing analysis (dRNA-seq) of RNA isolated from S. maltophilia wild-type and Δ hfq strains showed that Hfq regulates the expression of genes encoding flagellar and fimbrial components, transmembrane proteins, and enzymes involved in different metabolic pathways. Moreover, we analyzed the expression of several sRNAs identified by dRNA-seq in wild-type and Δ hfq S. maltophilia cells grown in different conditions on Northern blots. The accumulation of two sRNAs was strongly reduced in the absence of Hfq. Furthermore, based on our dRNA-seq analysis we provide a genome-wide map of transcriptional start sites in S. maltophilia .
- Published
- 2012
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