Novel small RNAs expressed by Bartonella bacilliformis under multiple conditions reveal potential mechanisms for persistence in the sand fly vector and human host.

ABSTRACT: Bartonella bacilliformis, the etiological agent of Carrión's disease, is a Gram-negative, facultative intracellular alphaproteobacterium. Carrión's disease is an emerging but neglected tropical illness endemic to Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador. B. bacilliformis is spread between humans through the bite of female phlebotomine sand flies. As a result, the pathogen encounters significant and repeated environmental shifts during its life cycle, including changes in pH and temperature. In most bacteria, small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) serve as effectors that may post-transcriptionally regulate the stress response to such changes. However, sRNAs have not been characterized in B. bacilliformis, to date. We therefore performed total RNA-sequencing analyses on B. bacilliformis grown in vitro then shifte

SUBMITTER: Wachter S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7717549 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature