Analysis of nuclear non-coding RNA upon bacterial infection

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K07923
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Biological pharmacy
• Research Institution: Chiba University
• Principal Investigator: Imamura Katsutoshi 千葉大学, 大学院薬学研究院, 日本学術振興会特別研究員(PD) (60741923)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 秋光 信佳 東京大学, アイソトープ総合センター, 教授 (40294962)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 核内RNA分解 / サルモネラ感染 / 長鎖非コードRNA

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Cytoplasmic mRNA degradation controls gene expression to help eliminate pathogens during infection. However, it has remained unclear whether such regulation also extends to nuclear RNA decay. Here, we show that 145 unstable nuclear RNAs, including enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are stabilized upon Salmonella infection in HeLa cells. In uninfected cells, the RNA exosome, aided by the Nuclear EXosome Targeting (NEXT) complex, degrades these labile transcripts. Upon infection, the levels of the exosome/NEXT components RRP6 and MTR4 dramatically decrease, resulting in transcript stabilization. Depletion of lncRNAs in HeLa cells triggers increased susceptibility to Salmonella infection concomitant with the deregulated expression of a distinct class of immunity-related genes, indicating that the accumulation of unstable nuclear RNAs contributes to antibacterial defense.

Free Research Field

核内RNA