The Stringent Response-Regulated sRNA Transcriptome of Borrelia burgdorferi.

ABSTRACT: The Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia (Borreliella) burgdorferi must tolerate nutrient stress to persist in the tick phase of its enzootic life cycle. We previously found that the stringent response mediated by Rel_Bbu globally regulates gene expression to facilitate persistence in the tick vector. Here, we show that Rel_Bbu regulates the expression of a swath of small RNAs (sRNA), affecting 36% of previously identified sRNAs in B. burgdorferi. This is the first sRNA regulatory mechanism identified in any spirochete. Threefold more sRNAs were Rel_Bbu-upregulated than downregulated during nutrient stress and included antisense, intergenic and 5' untranslated region sRNAs. Rel_Bbu-regulated sRNAs associated with genes known t

SUBMITTER: Drecktrah D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6041397 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature