Division of Mycobacterial Research, MRC National Institute for Medical Research, London, United Kingdom.
PLoS Pathog. 2011 Nov;7(11):e1002342. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1002342. Epub 2011 Nov 3.
RNA sequencing provides a new perspective on the genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by revealing an extensive presence of non-coding RNA, including long 5' and 3' untranslated regions, antisense transcripts, and intergenic small RNA (sRNA) molecules. More than a quarter of all sequence reads mapping outside of ribosomal RNA genes represent non-coding RNA, and the density of reads mapping to intergenic regions was more than two-fold higher than that mapping to annotated coding sequences. Selected sRNAs were found at increased abundance in stationary phase cultures and accumulated to remarkably high levels in the lungs of chronically infected mice, indicating a potential contribution to pathogenesis. The ability of tubercle bacilli to adapt to changing environments within the host is critical to their ability to cause disease and to persist during drug treatment; it is likely that novel post-transcriptional regulatory networks will play an important role in these adaptive responses.
RNA 测序通过揭示广泛存在的非编码 RNA，包括长 5' 和 3' 非翻译区、反义转录本和基因间小 RNA（sRNA）分子，为结核分枝杆菌的基因组提供了新的视角。超过四分之一的序列读取映射到核糖体 RNA 基因之外代表非编码 RNA，而映射到基因间区域的读取密度比映射到注释编码序列的密度高出两倍以上。在静止期培养物中发现了选定的 sRNA，并且在慢性感染小鼠的肺部中积累到非常高的水平，表明它们可能对发病机制有贡献。结核分枝杆菌在宿主内的不断变化的环境中适应的能力对其引起疾病和在药物治疗期间持续存在的能力至关重要；新型的转录后调控网络很可能在这些适应性反应中发挥重要作用。
