Mol Cell: Special small RNA molecules play a key role in helicobacter pyridosis infecting humans

October 22, 2020 // -- More than half of the world's human body's stomach mucous membranes carry Helicobacter pyridobacteria, which usually does not cause any health problems in a person's lifetime, but sometimes Helicobacter pyridosis can cause inflammation of the body and even lead to stomach cancer.
Helicobacterrobacteria can use toxic factors to survive and induce disease in the stomachs of carriers, and in a recent study published in the international journal Molecular Cell, scientists from the University of Welzburg and others found that multiple toxic factors in Helicobacteria can be centrally regulated by small RNA molecules called NikS.
Photo Source: eLife's NikS-regulated target gene is an important toxic factor for Helicobacter pyrethroids and two genes that encode exome proteins, especially the researchers found that NikS regulates the expression of the CagA protein, a bacterial cancer protein that plays a key role in the development of Helicobacter pyridobacteria-induced cancer, and a protein that is released into the environment by unknown functions secreted by Helicobacter pyridobacteria.
researcher Cynthia Sharma explains that the findings are of great importance for both medical research and the study of infectious diseases, and that by understanding the different functions and molecular mechanisms of this small RNA molecule and its associated bacterial signaling pathras during infection, researchers may be able to find new targets to develop new antimicrobial therapies.
In fact, Helicobacterrobacteria can survive in such harsh environments as the host stomach, thanks to a special genetic strategy, and like other pathogens, Helicobacteria uses a strategy called phase variation to adapt as much as possible to changes in the environment.
-phase variation means that bacteria constantly and randomly alter the expression of their genes through genetic mutations, suggesting that when certain genes become important, the bacteria in the population are always ready to express these important genes, which may be a "bet" strategy.
In this study, researchers found for the first time that the expression of small RNA molecules, such as NikS (not just proteins), is also affected by phase variation, which can be beneficial depending on the condition in the host's stomach, and that levels of small RNA molecules can be adapted to this condition by bit phase variation, which can lead to different regulation of pathogenic factors. Sharma, a
researcher, said the mechanism may have played an important role in promoting Helicobacter pyrethrobacteria's adaptation to a variable stomach environment and long-term implantation in host bodies, in which the researchers found that NikS can affect the process of falling into host cells in bacteria, and that small RNA molecules can make Helicobacter pyrethrobacteria more able to overcome the skin barrier of host stomach tissue and eventually enter deep in the stomach to obtain the nutrients on which the bacteria depend.
In the latter part of the study, the researchers will continue to delve into how this small RNA molecule promotes the planting and growth of Helicobacterrobacterium in different habitats in the stomach, and whether small RNA molecules such as NikS regulate the expression of other genes involved in bacterial pathogenic properties.
original source: Sara K. Eisenbart, Mona Alzheimer, Sandy R. Pernitzsch, et al. A Repeat-Associated Small RNA Controls the Major Virulence Factors of Helicobacter pylori, Molecular Cell (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2020.09.009