Uncovering the transcriptome-wide RNA modifications in .

Despite being a major human pathogen, limited studies have reported RNA modifications in . These post-transcriptional modifications play crucial regulatory roles in bacteria and have also been shown to modulate bacterial virulence. Using nanopore sequencing, we characterized RNA modifications in a virulent strain (Ab-C98) under free-living (mid-exponential phase culture) and during an early stage of infection (3 h post-infection) in larvae. Analysis revealed that mC methylations are essential for ribosome synthesis, while mA and Ψ are involved in metabolic pathways and translation processes. Iron-chelating genes (mC and mA) and (mA and Ψ) and RNA polymerase subunit (mA and Ψ) were selectively modified during infection. This first transcriptome-wide study highlights the potential regulatory roles of mC, mA and Ψ modifications in during infection.