RIL-seq reveals extensive involvement of small RNAs in virulence and capsule regulation in hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae.

ABSTRACT: Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (hvKp) can infect healthy individuals, in contrast to classical strains that commonly cause nosocomial infections. The recent convergence of hypervirulence with carbapenem-resistance in K. pneumoniae can potentially create 'superbugs' that are challenging to treat. Understanding virulence regulation of hvKp is thus critical. Accumulating evidence suggest that posttranscriptional regulation by small RNAs (sRNAs) plays a role in bacterial virulence, but it has hardly been studied in K. pneumoniae. We applied RIL-seq to a prototypical clinical isolate of hvKp to unravel the Hfq-dependent RNA-RNA interaction (RRI) network. The RRI network is dominated by sRNAs, including predicted novel sRNAs, three of which we validated experimentally. We constructed a stri

SUBMITTER: Goh KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11347178 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature