VirF Relieves the Transcriptional Attenuation of the Virulence Gene icsA of Shigella flexneri Affecting the icsA mRNA-RnaG Complex Formation.

ABSTRACT: VirF is the master activator of virulence genes of Shigella and its expression is required for the invasion of the human intestinal mucosa by pathogenic bacteria. VirF was shown to directly activate the transcription of virB and icsA, which encode two essential proteins involved in the pathogenicity process, by binding their promoter regions. In this study, we demonstrate by band shift, enzymatic probing and cross-linking experiments that VirF, in addition to DNA, can also bind the icsA transcript and RnaG, an antisense non-coding small RNA that promotes the premature termination of icsA mRNA through a transcriptional attenuation mechanism. Furthermore, we show that VirF binds in vitro also other species of RNAs, although with lower specificity. Th

SUBMITTER: Giangrossi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5394118 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature