Silencing of natural transformation by an RNA chaperone and a multitarget small RNA.

ABSTRACT: A highly conserved DNA uptake system allows many bacteria to actively import and integrate exogenous DNA. This process, called natural transformation, represents a major mechanism of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) involved in the acquisition of virulence and antibiotic resistance determinants. Despite evidence of HGT and the high level of conservation of the genes coding the DNA uptake system, most bacterial species appear non-transformable under laboratory conditions. In naturally transformable species, the DNA uptake system is only expressed when bacteria enter a physiological state called competence, which develops under specific conditions. Here, we investigated the mechanism that controls expression of the DNA uptake system in the human pathogen Legionella pneumophila We found that a

SUBMITTER: Attaiech L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4978251 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature