Legionella pneumophila is an intracellular bacterial pathogen that can cause a severe form of pneumonia in humans, a phenotype evolved through interactions with aquatic protozoa in the environment. Here, we show that L. pneumophila uses extracellular vesicles to translocate bacterial small RNAs (sRNAs) into host cells that act on host defence signalling pathways. The bacterial sRNA RsmY binds to the UTR of ddx58 (RIG-I encoding gene) and cRel, while tRNA-Phe binds ddx58 and irak1 collectively reducing expression of RIG-I, IRAK1 and cRel, with subsequent downregulation of IFN-β. Thus, RsmY and tRNA-Phe are bacterial trans-kingdom regulatory RNAs downregulating selected sensor and regulator proteins of the host cell innate immune response. This miRNA-like regulation of the expression of key sensors and regulators of immunity is a feature of L. pneumophila host-pathogen communication and likely represents a general mechanism employed by bacteria that interact with eukaryotic hosts.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8828724PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28454-xDOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

legionella pneumophila
8
small rnas
8
immune response
8
translocated legionella
4
pneumophila
4
pneumophila small
4
rnas mimic
4
mimic eukaryotic
4
eukaryotic micrornas
4
micrornas targeting
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!