Open AccessSalmonella produce microRNA-like RNA fragment Sal-1 in the infected cells to facilitate intracellular survival
Author(s) -
Hang Gu,
Chihao Zhao,
Tianfu Zhang,
Hongwei Liang,
Xiaoming Wang,
Yi Pan,
Xi Chen,
Quan Zhao,
Donghai Li,
Fenyong Liu,
Chenyu Zhang,
Ke Zen
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
scientific reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.24
H-Index - 213
ISSN - 2045-2322
DOI - 10.1038/s41598-017-02669-1
Subject(s) - salmonella , dicer , microrna , biology , argonaute , rna , immune system , microbiology and biotechnology , bacteria , non coding rna , rna interference , gene , genetics
Salmonella have developed a sophisticated machinery to evade immune clearance and promote survival in the infected cells. Previous studies were mostly focused on either bacteria itself or host cells, the interaction mechanism of host-pathogen awaits further exploration. In the present study, we show that Salmonella can exploit mammalian cell non-classical microRNA processing machinery to further process bacterial small non-coding RNAs into microRNA-like fragments. Sal-1, one such fragment with the highest copy number in the infected cells, is derived from Salmonella 5′-leader of the ribosomal RNA transcript and has a ‘stem’ structure-containing precursor. Processing of Sal-1 precursors to mature Sal-1 is dependent on host cell Argonaute 2 (AGO2) but not Dicer. Functionally, depleting cellular Sal-1 strongly renders the Salmonella bacteria less resistant to the host defenses both in vitro and in vivo . In conclusion, we demonstrate a novel strategy for Salmonella evading the host immune clearance, in which Salmonella produce microRNA-like functional RNA fragments to establish a microenvironment facilitating bacterial survival.