Abstract
In recent decades, the identification of small non-coding RNAs in bacteria has revealed an important regulatory mechanism of gene expression involved in the response to environmental signals and to the control of virulence. In the family Vibrionaceae, which includes several human and animal pathogens, small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) are closely related to important processes including metabolism, quorum sensing, virulence, and fitness. Studies conducted in silico and experiments using microarrays and high-throughput RNA sequencing have led to the discovery of an unexpected number of sRNAs in Vibrios. The present review discusses the most relevant reports regarding the mechanisms of action of sRNAs and their implications in the virulence of the main human pathogens in the family Vibrionaceae: Vibrio parahaemolyticus, V. vulnificus and V. cholerae.
Highlights
The family Vibrionaceae is composed of a set of Gram-negative γ-proteobacteria present in marine environments (Heidelberg et al, 2002)
Other genes involved in the virulence of V. parahaemolyticus, such as VP1680, vopC and vopt, which are effectors secreted by the T3SS were overexpressed in hfq mutant (Nakano et al, 2008; Nguyen and Jacq, 2014). These findings suggest that the expression of factors associated with the virulence of V. parahaemolyticus is negatively regulated by small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs), and Hfq may mediate the binding between these sRNAs and their target mRNA, affecting virulence
Most studies in the Vibrionaceae have focused on V. cholerae, several laboratories are working on the implications of sRNAs in the virulence mechanisms of other human pathogenic species of this family
Summary
The family Vibrionaceae is composed of a set of Gram-negative γ-proteobacteria present in marine environments (Heidelberg et al, 2002). A new form of genetic regulation in bacteria has been revealed with the identification of small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs; Bardill and Hammer, 2012; Michaux et al, 2014) These RNAs form a heterogeneous group with 50 to 500 nucleotides (nt) that act via different mechanisms to modulate a wide range of cell responses (Repoila and Darfeuille, 2009; Silveira et al, 2010; Song et al, 2014), including regulation of virulence genes (Papenfort and Vogel, 2014). The activity of CsrA is regulated by sRNAs of the CsrB family (100 to more than 400 in length) These sRNA remove this protein from the target mRNAs by binding to different sites (Romeo et al, 2013). This can decrease the constant of apparent dissociation between the sRNA and its target mRNA and stabilize the sRNAs, protecting them from degradation by the RNase E (Bardill and Hammer, 2012; Duval et al, 2014)
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