Endothelial Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Activation with Different Strains of : Possible Role in Rickettsial Pathogenesis.

is an obligate intracellular pathogen that primarily targets endothelial cells (ECs), leading to vascular inflammation and dysfunction. Mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) regulates several cellular processes that directly affect host immune responses to bacterial pathogens. Here, we infected ECs with two strains, avirulent (Iowa) and highly virulent Sheila Smith (SS) to identify differences in the kinetics and/or intensity of mTOR activation to establish a correlation between mTOR response and bacterial virulence.

A Small Non-Coding RNA Mediates Transcript Stability and Expression of Cytochrome bd Ubiquinol Oxidase Subunit I in .

Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) are now widely recognized for their role in the post-transcriptional regulation of bacterial virulence and growth. We have previously demonstrated the biogenesis and differential expression of several sRNAs in during interactions with the human host and arthropod vector, as well as the in vitro binding of sRNA _sR42 to bicistronic cytochrome bd ubiquinol oxidase subunits I and II () mRNA. However, the mechanism of regulation and the effect of sRNA binding on the stability of the bicistronic transcript and the expression of the and genes are still unknown.