Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Releases Extracellular Vesicles That Are Associated with RNA

• Published in: PloS one 2016-08, Vol.11 (8), p.e0160440-e0160440
• Main Authors: Blenkiron, Cherie, Simonov, Denis, Muthukaruppan, Anita, Tsai, Peter, Dauros, Priscila, Green, Sasha, Hong, Jiwon, Print, Cristin G, Swift, Simon, Phillips, Anthony R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bacteria; Bioinformatics; Biology and life sciences; Bladder; Cargo; Cell interactions; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell survival; Cells (Biology); Centrifugation; Centrifugation, Density Gradient; Confocal microscopy; Cytoplasm; Density gradients; E coli; Epithelial cells; Epithelial Cells - microbiology; Epithelial Cells - pathology; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli Infections - microbiology; Extracellular vesicles; Extracellular Vesicles - genetics; Gene sequencing; Health aspects; Humans; Immunology; Infection; Infections; Lipids; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Membrane vesicles; Messenger RNA; MicroRNAs; Microscopy; Nuclei; Nuclei (cytology); Pathogens; Pathology; Polymerase chain reaction; Proteins; Research and analysis methods; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA, Bacterial - genetics; RNA, Bacterial - metabolism; RNA, Ribosomal - genetics; RNA, Ribosomal - metabolism; RNA, Transfer - genetics; RNA, Transfer - metabolism; rRNA; Signaling; Surgery; Uridine; Urinary bladder; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms - microbiology; Uropathogenic Escherichia coli - cytology; Uropathogenic Escherichia coli - genetics; Uropathogenic Escherichia coli - pathogenicity; Vesicles; Vibrio cholerae; Wilkins, Maurice
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0160440

Bacterium-to-host signalling during infection is a complex process involving proteins, lipids and other diffusible signals that manipulate host cell biology for pathogen survival. Bacteria also release membrane vesicles (MV) that can carry a cargo of effector molecules directly into host cells. Supported by recent publications, we hypothesised that these MVs also associate with RNA, which may be directly involved in the modulation of the host response to infection. Using the uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) strain 536, we have isolated MVs and found they carry a range of RNA species. Density gradient centrifugation further fractionated and characterised the MV preparation and confirmed that the isolated RNA was associated with the highest particle and protein containing fractions. Using a new approach, RNA-sequencing of libraries derived from three different 'size' RNA populations (