Adaptive regulation of gene expression mediated by the control of RNA stability in the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori – PyloRna

Helicobacter pylori (Hp) is a bacterium exclusively colonizing the human stomach, a hostile acid niche and causing severe pathologies such as gastric cancer. Hp has a small genome (1.6 Mb) with reduced functional redundancy and few transcriptional regulators. Despite this, Hp is displaying a complex and poorly understood regulatory response to the stress encountered in its environment. The aim of this project is to use Hp as a model bacterial pathogen to identify novel adaptive strategies and partners related to RNA stability control and to characterize their role in Hp. This, till now unexplored field of investigation in Hp builds on recent data (RNome of Hp, whole set of transcripts) and new tools (TAP for protein complex identification in Hp) of the two teams. We propose to use genetic, functional genomic (deep sequencing, tilling arrays, TAP), in vivo functional analysis and in vitro approaches to characterize in Hp the function of HP1430, an homolog of the B. subtilis RNase J protein. Our aim is to identify its in vivo targets (mRNA, small RNA), to define its activity on selected targets in vitro, to validate and characterize its association with a DEAD box RNA helicase (data of team 1) in a putative minimal RNA degradosome and its role in the adaptive response and expression of virulence factors by Hp.