Overexpressing two Helicobacter pylori small RNAs from a bacterial pathogenicity-related chromosomal region to investigate their regulation of virulence genes
Faculty Mentor
Andrea Castillo
Document Type
Poster
Start Date
10-5-2023 9:00 AM
End Date
10-5-2023 10:45 AM
Location
PUB NCR
Department
Biology
Abstract
The bacterial pathogen Helicobacter pylori infects the stomachs of approximately 50% of humanity, causing symptomatic disease (e.g., stomach ulcers, gastric cancer, and MALT lymphoma) in 10-15% of the infected. Colonizing the acidic, inhospitable stomach requires H. pylori to tightly regulate gene expression despite lacking many common bacterial genetic regulatory elements. The pathogen may compensate by using abundant non-protein-coding small RNAs (sRNAs) to regulate gene expression, including infection-intensifying virulence genes. Additionally, severe disease and cancer correlate with infection by H. pylori strains that contain a nonessential chromosomal region, the cytotoxin-associated gene pathogenicity island (cagPAI). This encodes powerful virulence factors that include a mechanism for injecting a cancer-promoting protein (CagA) into host cells. Despite identification of multiple cagPAI sRNAs, regulatory effects of only one have been characterized. To investigate potential sRNA-mediated regulation of RNA gene expression in the cagPAI and other virulence genes, we are developing strains overexpressing (abundantly producing) two promising cagPAI sRNAs. We cloned experimental plasmids (circular DNA molecules) to contain an overexpression promoter element and the relevant sRNA. Subsequently, we will introduce these plasmids into H. pylori to generate two sRNA-overexpressing strains. Finally, we will compare total RNA harvested from these two strains and the unmodified strain using RNA sequencing and reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The resulting identification/quantification of any significant regulation by these two H. pylori cagPAI sRNAs could illuminate aspects of sRNA regulation of the cancer-associated cagPAI region and other virulence genes.
Recommended Citation
McPeck, Roxanne; Morgan, Olivia; and Castillo,, Andrea PhD, "Overexpressing two Helicobacter pylori small RNAs from a bacterial pathogenicity-related chromosomal region to investigate their regulation of virulence genes" (2023). 2023 Symposium. 21.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2023/res_2023/p1_2023/21
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Overexpressing two Helicobacter pylori small RNAs from a bacterial pathogenicity-related chromosomal region to investigate their regulation of virulence genes
PUB NCR
The bacterial pathogen Helicobacter pylori infects the stomachs of approximately 50% of humanity, causing symptomatic disease (e.g., stomach ulcers, gastric cancer, and MALT lymphoma) in 10-15% of the infected. Colonizing the acidic, inhospitable stomach requires H. pylori to tightly regulate gene expression despite lacking many common bacterial genetic regulatory elements. The pathogen may compensate by using abundant non-protein-coding small RNAs (sRNAs) to regulate gene expression, including infection-intensifying virulence genes. Additionally, severe disease and cancer correlate with infection by H. pylori strains that contain a nonessential chromosomal region, the cytotoxin-associated gene pathogenicity island (cagPAI). This encodes powerful virulence factors that include a mechanism for injecting a cancer-promoting protein (CagA) into host cells. Despite identification of multiple cagPAI sRNAs, regulatory effects of only one have been characterized. To investigate potential sRNA-mediated regulation of RNA gene expression in the cagPAI and other virulence genes, we are developing strains overexpressing (abundantly producing) two promising cagPAI sRNAs. We cloned experimental plasmids (circular DNA molecules) to contain an overexpression promoter element and the relevant sRNA. Subsequently, we will introduce these plasmids into H. pylori to generate two sRNA-overexpressing strains. Finally, we will compare total RNA harvested from these two strains and the unmodified strain using RNA sequencing and reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The resulting identification/quantification of any significant regulation by these two H. pylori cagPAI sRNAs could illuminate aspects of sRNA regulation of the cancer-associated cagPAI region and other virulence genes.
