RNA-mediated regulation in pathogenic bacteria

Pathogenic bacteria possess intricate regulatory networks that temporally control the pro-duction of virulence factors, and enable the bacteria to survive and proliferate after host infection. Regulatory RNAs are now recognized as important components of these networks, and their study may not only identify new approaches to combat infectious diseases but also reveal new general control mechanisms involved in bacterial gene expression. In this review, we illustrate the diversity of regulatory RNAs in bacterial pathogens, their mechanism of action, and how they can be integrated into the regulatory circuits that govern virulence-factor production. Successful host infection by pathogenic bac-teria largely depends on the coordinated ex-pression of a multitude of virulence factors and genes involved in the infection process. Over the last decade, much has been learned about the complexities of bacterial gene expression and it is now established that bacterial genes are regu-lated at many different levels, including and be