Bak Geunu, Lee Jungmin, Suk Shinae, Kim Daun, Young Lee Ji, Kim Kwang-Sun, Choi Byong-Seok, Lee Younghoon
Department of Chemistry, KAIST, Daejeon 305-701, Korea.
Superbacteria Research Center, KRIBB, Daejeon 305-806, Korea.
Sci Rep. 2015 Oct 15;5:15287. doi: 10.1038/srep15287.
Bacterial small RNAs (sRNAs) are known regulators in many physiological processes. In Escherichia coli, a large number of sRNAs have been predicted, among which only about a hundred are experimentally validated. Despite considerable research, the majority of their functions remain uncovered. Therefore, collective analysis of the roles of sRNAs in specific cellular processes may provide an effective approach to identify their functions. Here, we constructed a collection of plasmids overexpressing 99 individual sRNAs, and analyzed their effects on biofilm formation and related phenotypes. Thirty-three sRNAs significantly affecting these cellular processes were identified. No consistent correlations were observed, except that all five sRNAs suppressing type I fimbriae inhibited biofilm formation. Interestingly, IS118, yet to be characterized, suppressed all the processes. Our data not only reveal potentially critical functions of individual sRNAs in biofilm formation and other phenotypes but also highlight the unexpected complexity of sRNA-mediated metabolic pathways leading to these processes.
细菌小RNA（sRNA）是许多生理过程中的已知调节因子。在大肠杆菌中，已预测出大量sRNA，其中只有约一百种通过实验得到验证。尽管进行了大量研究，它们的大多数功能仍未被发现。因此，对sRNA在特定细胞过程中的作用进行集体分析可能为确定其功能提供一种有效方法。在这里，我们构建了一个过表达99种单个sRNA的质粒文库，并分析了它们对生物膜形成及相关表型的影响。鉴定出33种对这些细胞过程有显著影响的sRNA。除了所有5种抑制I型菌毛的sRNA都抑制生物膜形成外，未观察到一致的相关性。有趣的是，尚未被表征的IS118抑制了所有这些过程。我们的数据不仅揭示了单个sRNA在生物膜形成和其他表型中潜在的关键功能，还突出了sRNA介导的导致这些过程的代谢途径出人意料的复杂性。
