Identification of novel sRNAs in mycobacterial species.
Bacterial small RNAs (sRNAs) are short transcripts that typically do not encode proteins and often act as regulators of gene expression through a variety of mechanisms. Regulatory sRNAs have been identified in many species, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. Here, we use a computational algorithm to predict sRNA candidates in the mycobacterial species M. smegmatis and M. bovis BCG and confirmed the expression of many sRNAs using Northern blotting. Thus, we have identified 17 and 23 novel sRNAs in M. smegmatis and M. bovis BCG, respectively. We have also applied a high-throughput technique (Deep-RACE) to map the 5' and 3' ends of many of these sRNAs and identified potential regulators of sRNAs by analysis of existing ChIP-seq datasets. The sRNAs identified in this work likely contribute to the unique biology of mycobacteria.
McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States of America.
Chen-Hsun
CH
Tsai
Catherine
C
Baranowski
Jonathan
J
Livny
Kathleen A
KA
McDonough
Joseph T
JT
Wade
Lydia M
LM
Contreras
D001692:Biological Transport; D047369:Chromatin Immunoprecipitation; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D023061:Gene Order; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
D012329:RNA, Bacterial