TY - JOUR
T1 - Small RNAs asserting big roles in mycobacteria
AU - Coskun, Fatma S.
AU - Płociński, Przemysław
AU - van Oers, Nicolai S.C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This work was supported by the UT Southwestern Medical Center Beecherl funding to N.S.C.v.O. P.P. was supported by National Science Centre, Poland 2015/19/D/NZ1/02842, SONATA 10.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), with 10.4 million new cases per year reported in the human population. Recent studies on the Mtb transcriptome have revealed the abundance of noncoding RNAs expressed at various phases of mycobacteria growth, in culture, in infected mammalian cells, and in patients. Among these noncoding RNAs are both small RNAs (sRNAs) between 50 and 350 nts in length and smaller RNAs (sncRNA) < 50 nts. In this review, we provide an up-to-date synopsis of the identification, designation, and function of these Mtb-encoded sRNAs and sncRNAs. The methodological advances including RNA sequencing strategies, small RNA antagonists, and locked nucleic acid sequence-specific RNA probes advancing the studies on these small RNA are described. Initial insights into the regulation of the small RNA expression and putative processing enzymes required for their synthesis and function are discussed. There are many open questions remaining about the biological and pathogenic roles of these small non-coding RNAs, and potential research directions needed to define the role of these mycobacterial noncoding RNAs are summarized.
AB - Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), with 10.4 million new cases per year reported in the human population. Recent studies on the Mtb transcriptome have revealed the abundance of noncoding RNAs expressed at various phases of mycobacteria growth, in culture, in infected mammalian cells, and in patients. Among these noncoding RNAs are both small RNAs (sRNAs) between 50 and 350 nts in length and smaller RNAs (sncRNA) < 50 nts. In this review, we provide an up-to-date synopsis of the identification, designation, and function of these Mtb-encoded sRNAs and sncRNAs. The methodological advances including RNA sequencing strategies, small RNA antagonists, and locked nucleic acid sequence-specific RNA probes advancing the studies on these small RNA are described. Initial insights into the regulation of the small RNA expression and putative processing enzymes required for their synthesis and function are discussed. There are many open questions remaining about the biological and pathogenic roles of these small non-coding RNAs, and potential research directions needed to define the role of these mycobacterial noncoding RNAs are summarized.
KW - Mycobacteria
KW - RNA processing
KW - Small RNAs
KW - SncRNAs
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U2 - 10.3390/ncrna7040069
DO - 10.3390/ncrna7040069
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34842799
AN - SCOPUS:85118997410
SN - 2311-553X
VL - 7
JO - Non-coding RNA
JF - Non-coding RNA
IS - 4
M1 - 69
ER -