RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Ghosh, Suparna A1 Dureja, Chetna A1 Khatri, Indu A1 Subramanian, Srikrishna A1 Raychaudhuri, Saumya A1 Ghosh, SagarmoyYR 2017 T1 Identification of novel small RNAs in Burkholderia cenocepacia KC-01 expressed under iron limitation and oxidative stress conditions JF Microbiology, VO 163 IS 12 SP 1924 OP 1936 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000566 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2080, AB Small RNA (sRNA)-mediated regulation of gene expression is a major tool to understand bacterial responses to environmental changes. In particular, pathogenic bacteria employ sRNAs to adapt to the host environment and establish infection. Members of the Burkholderia cepacia complex, normally present in soil microbiota, cause nosocomial lung infection especially in hospitalized cystic fibrosis patients. We sequenced the draft genome of Burkholderia cenocepacia KC-01, isolated from the coastal saline soil, and identified several potential sRNAs in silico. Expression of seven small RNAs (Bc_KC_sr1–7) was subsequently confirmed. Two sRNAs (Bc_KC_sr1 and Bc_KC_sr2) were upregulated in response to iron depletion by 2,2’-bipyridyl and another two (Bc_KC_sr3 and Bc_KC_sr4) responded to the presence of 60 µM H2O2 in the culture media. Bc_Kc_sr5, 6 and 7 remained unchanged under these conditions. Expression of Bc_KC_sr2, 3 and 4 also altered with a change in temperature and incubation time. A search in the Rfam and BSRD databases identified Bc_Kc_sr4 as candidate738 in B. pseudomallei D286 and assigned Bc_Kc_sr5 and 6 as tmRNA and 6S RNA, respectively. The novel sRNAs were conserved in Burkholderiaceae but did not have any homologue in other genera. Bc_KC_sr1 and 4 were transcribed independently while the rest were part of the 3′ UTR of their upstream genes. TargetRNA2 predicted that these sRNAs could target a host of cellular messages with very high stringency. Intriguingly, regions surrounding the translation initiation site for several enzymes involved in Fe–S cluster and siderophore biosynthesis, ROS homeostasis, porins, transcription and translation regulators, were among the suggested putative binding sites for these sRNAs., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.000566