Exoribonucleases as modulators of virulence in pathogenic bacteria

of the chicken gut and a decreased ability to adhere and invade cells.Defects in motility are suggested to be responsible for many of the attenuation of the virulent traits of C. jejuni in the mutant pnp strain.Interestingly, the authors suggest that PNPase may be able to affect flagella-dependent motility by modulation of the NANA synthetase (neuB), involved in the post-translational modification of the flagellin subunit.Furthermore, proteomic studies also showed that PNPase affects the synthesis of proteins involved in virulence, such as LuxS and PEB3.This work confirms the importance of exoribonucleases, namely PNPase, in cell biology, and virulence (Haddad et al., 2012).Bacterial pathogens rapidly adapt to environmental challenges.Adaptation requires a rapid adjustment in RNA levels, requiring not only transcriptional regulation, but also fine-tuning control of RNA stability.Stressresistance plays an essential role in the capacity of many pathogenic bacteria to establish and maintain long-term intracellular residence in host cells.Many ribonucleases are regulated by stress conditions, being critical enzymes involved in the adaptation of bacteria to new environmental conditions.In particular, PNPase is a cold-shock protein in Escherichia coli being essential for growth at low temperatures (Zangrossi et al., 2000).Haddad et al. (2009) had previously shown that PNPase was also crucial for C. jejuni growth under cold-shock conditions.This was a relevant discovery especially when considering that this pathogen can persist and grow at refrigerated temperatures.PNPase also seems to be involved in C. jejuni resistance to acidic and oxidative stresses, as the pnp strain shows variations in the levels of the stressresponse proteins KatA, DnaK, and Hsp90 (Haddad et al., 2012).In S. enterica, PNPase was shown to be important for acute infection and lethality in a murine model as result of increasing expression of the pathogenicity islands (Clements et al., 2002).In Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and Y. pestis PNPase was A commentary on Polynucleotide phosphorylase has an impact on cell biology of Campylobacter jejuni

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