Version 1
: Received: 30 June 2021 / Approved: 2 July 2021 / Online: 2 July 2021 (09:56:16 CEST)
Version 2
: Received: 6 July 2021 / Approved: 7 July 2021 / Online: 7 July 2021 (10:06:29 CEST)
Version 3
: Received: 18 October 2021 / Approved: 19 October 2021 / Online: 19 October 2021 (13:23:01 CEST)
Coskun, F.S.; Płociński, P.; van Oers, N.S.C. Small RNAs Asserting Big Roles in Mycobacteria. Non-Coding RNA 2021, 7, 69, doi:10.3390/ncrna7040069.
Coskun, F.S.; Płociński, P.; van Oers, N.S.C. Small RNAs Asserting Big Roles in Mycobacteria. Non-Coding RNA 2021, 7, 69, doi:10.3390/ncrna7040069.
Coskun, F.S.; Płociński, P.; van Oers, N.S.C. Small RNAs Asserting Big Roles in Mycobacteria. Non-Coding RNA 2021, 7, 69, doi:10.3390/ncrna7040069.
Coskun, F.S.; Płociński, P.; van Oers, N.S.C. Small RNAs Asserting Big Roles in Mycobacteria. Non-Coding RNA 2021, 7, 69, doi:10.3390/ncrna7040069.
Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), with 10.4 million new cases per year reported in the human population. Recent studies on the Mtb transcriptome have revealed the abundance of noncoding RNAs expressed at various phases of mycobacteria growth, in culture, in infected mammalian cells and in patients. Among these noncoding RNAs are both small RNAs (sRNAs) between 50-350 nts in length and smaller RNAs (sncRNA) <50 nts. In this review, we provide an up-to-date synopsis of the identification, designation, and function of these Mtb-encoded sRNAs and sncRNAs. The methodological advances including RNA sequencing strategies, small RNA antagonists and locked nucleic acid sequence specific RNA probes advancing the studies on these small RNA are described. Initial insights into the regulation of the small RNA expression and putative processing enzymes required for their synthesis and function are discussed. There are many open questions remaining about the biological and pathogenic roles of these small non-coding RNAs, and potential research directions needed to define the role of these mycobacterial noncoding RNAs summarized.
Keywords
Mycobacteria; small RNAs; sncRNAs; RNA processing.
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Commenter: Nicolai van Oers
Commenter's Conflict of Interests: Author