title: Functional studies of E. faecalis RNase J2 and its role in virulence and fitness.
abstract: Post-transcriptional control provides bacterial pathogens a method by which they can rapidly adapt to environmental change. Dual exo- and endonucleolytic activities of RNase J enzymes contribute to Gram-positive RNA processing and decay. First discovered in Bacillus subtilis, RNase J1 plays a key role in mRNA maturation and degradation, while the function of the paralogue RNase J2 is largely unknown. Previously, we discovered that deletion of the Enterococcus faecalis rnjB gene significantly attenuates expression of a major virulence factor involved in enterococcal pathogenesis, the Ebp pili. In this work, we demonstrate that E. faecalis rnjB encodes an active RNase J2, and that the ribonuclease activity of RNase J2 is required for regulation of Ebp pili. To further investigate how rnjB affects E. faecalis gene expression on a global scale, we compared transcriptomes of the E. faecalis strain OG1RF with its isogenic rnjB deletion mutant (ΔrnjB). In addition to Ebp pili regulation, previously demonstrated to have a profound effect on the ability of E. faecalis to form biofilm or establish infection, we identified that rnjB regulates the expression of several other genes involved in bacterial virulence and fitness, including gls24 (a virulence factor important in stress response). We further demonstrated that the E. faecalis RNase J2 deletion mutant is more sensitive to bile salt and greatly attenuated in in vivo organ infection as determined by an IV-sublethal challenge infection mouse model, indicating that E. faecalis RNase J2 plays an important role in E. faecalis virulence.
authors.affiliation: Center for Molecular Imaging, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, United States.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Center for Molecular Imaging, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, United States.
authors.forename: Kenneth L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Pinkston
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, United States.
authors.forename: Agathe
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bourgogne
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, United States.|Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, United States.
authors.forename: Barbara E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, United States.
authors.forename: Ambro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Hoof
authors.affiliation: Center for Molecular Imaging, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, United States.|Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, United States.|Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, United States.
authors.forename: Barrett R
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9662-420X
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Harvey
mesh_terms: D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D016253:Microscopy, Immunoelectron; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D012260:Ribonucleases / Q000378:metabolism*; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012260:Ribonucleases