The primary transcriptome of Neisseria meningitidis and its interaction with the RNA chaperone Hfq

• Nadja Heidrich ^[1] ; Saskia Bauriedl ^[1] ; Lars Barquist ^[1] ; Lei Li ^[2] ; Christoph Schoen ^[1] ; Jörg Vogel ^[3]
  1. [1] University of Würzburg

     University of Würzburg

     Kreisfreie Stadt Würzburg, Alemania

     
  2. [2] Baylor College of Medicine

     Baylor College of Medicine

     Estados Unidos

     
  3. [3] RNA Biology Group, Institute for Molecular Infection Biology (IMIB), University of Würzburg, D-97080 Würzburg, Germany; Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), D-97080 Würzburg, Germany

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• Localización: Nucleic acids research, ISSN 0305-1048, Vol. 45, Nº. 10, 2017, págs. 6147-6167
• Idioma: inglés
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  • Neisseria meningitidis is a human commensal that can also cause life-threatening meningitis and septicemia. Despite growing evidence for RNA-based regulation in meningococci, their transcriptome structure and output of regulatory small RNAs (sRNAs) are incompletely understood. Using dRNA-seq, we have mapped at single-nucleotide resolution the primary transcriptome of N. meningitidis strain 8013. Annotation of 1625 transcriptional start sites defines transcription units for most protein-coding genes but also reveals a paucity of classical σ70-type promoters, suggesting the existence of activators that compensate for the lack of −35 consensus sequences in N. meningitidis. The transcriptome maps also reveal 65 candidate sRNAs, a third of which were validated by northern blot analysis. Immunoprecipitation with the RNA chaperone Hfq drafts an unexpectedly large post-transcriptional regulatory network in this organism, comprising 23 sRNAs and hundreds of potential mRNA targets. Based on this data, using a newly developed gfp reporter system we validate an Hfq-dependent mRNA repression of the putative colonization factor PrpB by the two trans-acting sRNAs RcoF1/2. Our genome-wide RNA compendium will allow for a better understanding of meningococcal transcriptome organization and riboregulation with implications for colonization of the human nasopharynx.