RNA controls the protective envelope of bacteria
07/21/2021Cynthia Sharma's team has revealed that the small RNA RepG of the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori regulates expression of a gene involved in biosynthesis of bacterial surface structures and thereby also modulates antibiotic sensitivity.
The group at the IMIB led by Cynthia Sharma and collaboration partners at the Pasteur Institute in Paris have now deciphered new details of bacterial LPS biosynthesis.
Helicobacter pylori is a stomach germ that can permanently settle in the gastric mucosa through various adaptations under the extremely acidic conditions in the stomach. The bacterium succeeds in making the structures on the surface of its shell extremely variable. This means that it can escape recognition by the host immune system.
