Core non-coding RNAs of Piscirickettsia salmonis

PLoS One. 2018 May 16;13(5):e0197206. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197206. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Piscirickettsia salmonis, a fastidious Gram-negative intracellular facultative bacterium, is the causative agent o Piscirickettsiosis. P. salmonis has broad host range with a nearly worldwide distribution, causing significant mortality. The molecular regulatory mechanisms of P. salmonis pathogenesis are relatively unknown, mainly due to its difficult in vitro culture and genomic differences between genogroups. Bacterial non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are important post-transcriptional regulators of bacterial physiology and virulence that are predominantly transcribed from intergenic regions (trans-acting) or antisense strand of open reading frames (cis-acting). The repertoire of ncRNAs present in the genome of P. salmonis and its possible role in bacterial physiology and pathogenesis are unknown. Here, we predicted and analyzed the core ncRNAs of P. salmonis base on structure and correlate this prediction to RNA sequencing data. We identified a total of 69 ncRNA classes related to tRNAs, rRNA, thermoregulators, antitoxins, ribozymes, riboswitches, miRNAs and antisense-RNAs. Among these ncRNAs, 29 classes of ncRNAs are shared between all P. salmonis genomes, constituting the core ncRNAs of P. salmonis. The ncRNA core of P. salmonis could serve to develop diagnostic tools and explore the role of ncRNA in fish pathogenesis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Genome, Bacterial*
  • Piscirickettsia / genetics*
  • RNA, Bacterial / genetics*
  • RNA, Untranslated / genetics*

Substances

  • RNA, Bacterial
  • RNA, Untranslated

Grants and funding

This work was supported by: COPEC-UC 2014.J0.71, Iron acquisition proteins as vaccines against Piscirikettsia salmonis, University Mayor, PI: Javier Santander; Research & Development Corporation (RDC) of Newfoundland and Labrador (R&DIgnite Project #5404.2113.10), Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, PI: Javier Santander; CONICYT, FONDECYT-Regular competition 1140330; Universidad Mayor, Chile (PhD Fellowship for Cristopher Segovia), Universidad Mayor, PI: Javier Santander; and CONICYT, FONDECYT-Initiation, 11161020, Universidad Mayor, PI: Vinicius Maracaja-Coutinho. Beagle Bioinformatics provided support in the form of salaries for author VMC, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific role of this author is articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.