Annual Review of Microbiology 2016-09-08

Staphylococcus aureus RNAIII and Its Regulon Link Quorum Sensing, Stress Responses, Metabolic Adaptation, and Regulation of Virulence Gene Expression

Delphine Bronesky, Zongfu Wu, Stefano Marzi, Philippe Walter, Thomas Geissmann, Karen Moreau, François Vandenesch, Isabelle Caldelari, Pascale Romby

Index: 10.1146/annurev-micro-102215-095708

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Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus RNAIII is one of the main intracellular effectors of the quorum-sensing system. It is a multifunctional RNA that encodes a small peptide, and its noncoding parts act as antisense RNAs to regulate the translation and/or the stability of mRNAs encoding transcriptional regulators, major virulence factors, and cell wall metabolism enzymes. In this review, we explain how regulatory proteins and RNAIII are embedded in complex regulatory circuits to express virulence factors in a dynamic and timely manner in response to stress and environmental and metabolic changes.