MRC National Institute for Medical Research, London
Science for Health
Small molecules have big impact for TB bacteria
09 April 2010
Small RNAs are tiny molecules of non-coding RNA that float around the cell. They are often the mirror image of key bacterial genes, to which they can stick like Velcro. This mechanism can enhance or inhibit the normal production of bacterial molecules from these genes. Several pathogenic bacteria, including Salmonella spp, Staphylococcus aureus and Vibrio cholerae, are already known to rely on small RNAs when adapting to their host environments and causing disease.
Kristine Arnvig, working with Douglas Young in NIMR's Division of Mycobacterial Research, has demonstrated that, like other pathogenic bacteria, Mtb can produce small RNAs. These molecules are able to subtly tweak the production of key bacterial components in response to environmental signals which helps maximise the survival of the pathogen. The small RNAs in Mtb are induced under certain stress conditions that signal as a warning to the bacterium.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) has an extraordinary ability to survive by masking itself from the host immune system and persisting for decades inside the host. We think that the small RNAs may play a crucial role in allowing Mtb to alter its pattern of gene expression in response to the environmental conditions that it experiences within the host during infection.
Understanding this regulatory system will help us to design new drugs that specifically attack the persistent form of Mtb which manages to hide from the immune system and resist the action of existing drugs.
Kristine Arnvig
Conference abstract
SGM Spring 2010 Meeting. Abstracts (see pp. 89-90). (pdf)© MRC National Institute for Medical Research
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