Lectures and seminars KI infection and MTC Infection & Immunity Seminar: RNA-based control of a bacterial toxin
Speaker: Erik Holmqvist, Associate Professor, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology; Microbiology and immunology, Uppsala University
Host: Edmund Loh, MTC
Summary
Bacteria are constantly challenged by harsh conditions in their ever-changing natural environments. To survive and proliferate, bacterial cells cope with stressful conditions by rapidly re-wire gene expression. To this end, bacteria have acquired complex gene regulatory networks, which at the post-transcriptional level are dominated by RNA-binding proteins and regulatory small RNAs. Associate Professor Erik Holmqvist group studies the molecular mechanisms and cellular functions of bacterial RNA-binding proteins and their RNA ligands to understand how these regulatory macromolecules contribute to bacterial growth and survival.
Selected publications
An RNA structural switch controlling bacterial toxin translation.
Eleftheraki A, Escalera-Maurer A, Hien EDM, Virciglio A, Conangle M, Tourasse NJ, Le Rhun A, Holmqvist E.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2026
An RNA pseudoknot mediates toxin translation and antitoxin inhibition.
Eleftheraki A, Holmqvist E.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Jul 2;121(27):e2403063121
The Small Toxic Salmonella Protein TimP Targets the Cytoplasmic Membrane and Is Repressed by the Small RNA TimR.
Andresen L, Martínez-Burgo Y, Nilsson Zangelin J, Rizvanovic A, Holmqvist E.
mBio. 2020 Nov 10;11(6):e01659-20