This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental material
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mellin, J. R.
Right arrow Articles by Genco, C. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Mellin, J. R.
Right arrow Articles by Genco, C. A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, May 2007, p. 3686-3694, Vol. 189, No. 10
0021-9193/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01890-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

A Novel Fur- and Iron-Regulated Small RNA, NrrF, Is Required for Indirect Fur-Mediated Regulation of the sdhA and sdhC Genes in Neisseria meningitidis{triangledown} ,{dagger}

J. R. Mellin,1,2 Sulip Goswami,1 Susan Grogan,1 Brian Tjaden,3 and Caroline A. Genco1,2*

Department of Medicine, Section of Molecular Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02118,1 Department of Microbiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02118,2 Computer Science Department, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts 024813

Received 14 December 2006/ Accepted 23 February 2007

Iron is both essential for bacterial growth and toxic at higher concentrations; thus, iron homeostasis is tightly regulated. In Neisseria meningitidis the majority of iron-responsive gene regulation is mediated by the ferric uptake regulator protein (Fur), a protein classically defined as a transcriptional repressor. Recently, however, microarray studies have identified a number of genes in N. meningitidis that are iron and Fur activated, demonstrating a new role for Fur as a transcriptional activator. Since Fur has been shown to indirectly activate gene transcription through the repression of small regulatory RNA molecules in other organisms, we hypothesized that a similar mechanism could account for Fur-dependent, iron-activated gene transcription in N. meningitidis. In this study, we used a bioinformatics approach to screen for the presence of Fur-regulated small RNA molecules in N. meningitidis MC58. This screen identified one small RNA, herein named NrrF (for neisserial regulatory RNA responsive to iron [Fe]), which was demonstrated to be both iron responsive and Fur regulated and which has a well-conserved orthologue in N. gonorrhoeae. In addition, this screen identified a number of other likely, novel small RNA transcripts. Lastly, we utilized a new bioinformatics approach to predict regulatory targets of the NrrF small RNA. This analysis led to the identification of the sdhA and sdhC genes, which were subsequently demonstrated to be under NrrF regulation in an nrrF mutant. This study is the first report of small RNAs in N. meningitidis and the first to use a bioinformatics approach to identify, a priori, regulatory targets of a small RNA.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: 650 Albany St., Rm. 314, Boston, MA 02118. Phone: (617) 414-5305. Fax: (617) 638-7124. E-mail: caroline.genco{at}bmc.org or cgenco{at}bu.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 9 March 2007.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

Journal of Bacteriology, May 2007, p. 3686-3694, Vol. 189, No. 10
0021-9193/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01890-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • da Silva Neto, J. F., Braz, V. S., Italiani, V. C. S., Marques, M. V. (2009). Fur controls iron homeostasis and oxidative stress defense in the oligotrophic alpha-proteobacterium Caulobacter crescentus. Nucleic Acids Res 37: 4812-4825 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Fantappie, L., Metruccio, M. M. E., Seib, K. L., Oriente, F., Cartocci, E., Ferlicca, F., Giuliani, M. M., Scarlato, V., Delany, I. (2009). The RNA Chaperone Hfq Is Involved in Stress Response and Virulence in Neisseria meningitidis and Is a Pleiotropic Regulator of Protein Expression. Infect. Immun. 77: 1842-1853 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Metruccio, M. M. E., Fantappie, L., Serruto, D., Muzzi, A., Roncarati, D., Donati, C., Scarlato, V., Delany, I. (2009). The Hfq-Dependent Small Noncoding RNA NrrF Directly Mediates Fur-Dependent Positive Regulation of Succinate Dehydrogenase in Neisseria meningitidis. J. Bacteriol. 191: 1330-1342 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Tjaden, B. (2008). TargetRNA: a tool for predicting targets of small RNA action in bacteria. Nucleic Acids Res 36: W109-W113 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Yuhara, S., Komatsu, H., Goto, H., Ohtsubo, Y., Nagata, Y., Tsuda, M. (2008). Pleiotropic roles of iron-responsive transcriptional regulator Fur in Burkholderia multivorans. Microbiology 154: 1763-1774 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Agarwal, S., Sebastian, S., Szmigielski, B., Rice, P. A., Genco, C. A. (2008). Expression of the Gonococcal Global Regulatory Protein Fur and Genes Encompassing the Fur and Iron Regulon during In Vitro and In Vivo Infection in Women. J. Bacteriol. 190: 3129-3139 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»