The biological role of sRNA OmrA

08 06 2023

We would like to invite you to the institute seminar: on Monday 12 of June at 2 pm in room 102B, MSc Julia Konarska from the Department of Molecular Microbiology will give a seminar entitled „ The biological role of sRNA OmrA and its impact on the level of virulence and adaptability of Yersinia enterocolitica enteropathogen”.

Abstract:

Yersinia enterocolitica is an important gastrointestinal pathogen that causes a range of human diseases. This bacteria is a heterogeneous species with varying virulence, as it synthesizes a wide variety of virulence factors, such as adhesins/invasin and many secreted toxins and effector proteins. Their synthesis is tightly regulated in response to different environmental factors. To adapt to changes in environmental conditions, bacteria regulate their gene expression at both the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. The importance of post-transcriptional regulation has only recently become a focus of interest with the discovery of numerous small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs).Trans-encoded sRNAs are expressed by loci that are separate from their target genes. These sRNAs are usually 50-150 nucleotides long and they modulate mRNA translation and/or stability by imperfect base-pairing interactions. The main scientific goal of this project is to characterize the activity of OmrA in Y. enterocolitica strains of low (strain Ye9N) and high (strain 8081) virulence. Genes identified in silico as potential OmrA targets, including important virulence genes will be analyzed using various molecular and physiochemical analyses. The anticipated findings of this project will allow us to demonstrate the role of OmrA in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression, which will help in determining the functional consequences of sRNA activity in controlling the life strategies of Y. enterocolitica associated with its saprophytic and pathogenic forms.