Open AccessThe Etiological Agent of Lyme Disease, Borrelia burgdorferi , Appears To Contain Only a Few Small RNA Molecules
Author(s) -
Yngve Östberg,
Ignas Bunikis,
Sven Bergström,
Jörgen Johansson
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of bacteriology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.652
H-Index - 246
eISSN - 1067-8832
pISSN - 0021-9193
DOI - 10.1128/jb.186.24.8472-8477.2004
Subject(s) - biology , borrelia burgdorferi , lyme disease , microbiology and biotechnology , borrelia , virology , spirochaetaceae , rna , immunology , genetics , antibody , gene
Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) have recently been shown to be the main controllers of several regulatory pathways. The function of sRNAs depends in many cases on the RNA-binding protein Hfq, especially for sRNAs with an antisense function. In this study, the genome of Borrelia burgdorferi was subjected to different searches for sRNAs, including direct homology and comparative genomics searches and ortholog- and annotation-based search strategies. Two new sRNAs were found, one of which showed complementarity to the rpoS region, which it possibly controls by an antisense mechanism. The role of the other sRNA is unknown, although observed complementarities against particular mRNA sequences suggest an antisense mechanism. We suggest that the low level of sRNAs observed in B. burgdorferi is at least partly due to the presumed lack of both functional Hfq protein and RNase E activity.