A Ribosomal Protein Homolog Governs Gene Expression and Virulence in a Bacterial Pathogen.

ABSTRACT: The molecular machine necessary for protein synthesis, the ribosome, is generally considered constitutively functioning and lacking any inherent regulatory capacity. Yet ribosomes are commonly heterogeneous in composition and the impact of ribosome heterogeneity on translation is not well understood. Here, we determined that changes in ribosome protein composition govern gene expression in the intracellular bacterial pathogen Francisella tularensis. F. tularensis encodes three distinct homologs for bS21, a ribosomal protein involved in translation initiation, and analysis of purified F. tularensis ribosomes revealed they are heterogeneous with respect to bS21. The loss of one homolog, bS21-2, resulted in significant changes to the cellular proteome unlinked to changes in the transcriptome.

SUBMITTER: Trautmann HS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9578407 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature