Abstract
Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive human-pathogen bacterium that served as an experimental model for investigating fundamental processes of adaptive immunity and virulence. Recent novel technologies allowed the identification of several hundred non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in the Listeria genome and provided insight into an unexpected complex transcriptional machinery. In this review, we discuss ncRNAs that are encoded on the opposite strand of the target gene and are therefore termed antisense RNAs (asRNAs). We highlight mechanistic and functional concepts of asRNAs in L. monocytogenes and put these in context of asRNAs in other bacteria. Understanding asRNAs will further broaden our knowledge of RNA-mediated gene regulation and may provide targets for diagnostic and antimicrobial development.
Highlights
Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive, facultative foodborne pathogen that causes a severe life-threatening disease in susceptible humans and animals
Technological and methodological advances transformed the field of RNA-mediated gene regulation in bacteria and provided insight into an unexpected complexity
In L. monocytogenes hundreds of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), including even more than hundred antisense RNAs (asRNAs) possibly implicated in the regulation of 102 Listeria genes, were discovered to date
Summary
Current status of antisense RNA-mediated gene regulation in Listeria monocytogenes. Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, USA. Reviewed by: Nancy Freitag, University of Illinois Chicago, USA Wyndham W. Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, USA Joern Kalinowski, Bielefeld University, Germany. Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive human-pathogen bacterium that served as an experimental model for investigating fundamental processes of adaptive immunity and virulence. Recent novel technologies allowed the identification of several hundred non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in the Listeria genome and provided insight into an unexpected complex transcriptional machinery. We discuss ncRNAs that are encoded on the opposite strand of the target gene and are termed antisense RNAs (asRNAs). Understanding asRNAs will further broaden our knowledge of RNA-mediated gene regulation and may provide targets for diagnostic and antimicrobial development
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