ArticlePLoS pathogens2013
Transcription of a cis-acting, noncoding, small RNA is required for pilin antigenic variation in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 69 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
69 citing papers in PubMed, 111 citations in OpenAlex.
- CRISPRi targeting to themBio · 2026Article
- Restriction-modification systems are required forProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Publicly Available Neisseria Gonorrhoeae Genomes Predominantly Represent In Vitro-Derived Nonpiliated Variants.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Characterizing ceftriaxone tolerance inmSystems · 2026Article
- Restriction-modification systems are required forbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Role of Small Non-Coding RNA in Gram-Negative Bacteria: New Insights and Comprehensive Review of Mechanisms, Functions, and Potential Applications.Molecular biotechnology · 2025Review
- Article
- Review
- Article
- Meta-analysis of the Vmp-like sequences of Lyme diseaseFrontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Article
- Variable disruption of epithelial monolayers byMicrobiology (Reading, England) · 2023Article
- Major Achievements in the Design of Quadruplex-Interactive Small Molecules.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Article
- Small RNA mediated gradual control of lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis affects antibiotic resistance in Helicobacter pylori.Nature communications · 2021Article
- G-Quadruplex Structures in Bacteria: Biological Relevance and Potential as an Antimicrobial Target.Journal of bacteriology · 2021Review
- Anti-Virulence Therapeutic Approaches forAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- G-Quadruplexes in the Archaea Domain.Biomolecules · 2020Article
- Article
- Altering theBiochemistry · 2020Article
9 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The strict human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae can utilize homologous recombination to generate antigenic variability in targets of immune surveillance. To evade the host immune response, N. gonorrhoeae promotes high frequency gene conversion events between many silent pilin copies and the expressed pilin locus (pilE), resulting in the production of variant pilin proteins. Previously, we identified a guanine quartet (G4) structure localized near pilE that is required for the homologous recombination reactions leading to pilin antigenic variation (Av). In this work, we demonstrate that inactivating the promoter of a small non-coding RNA (sRNA) that initiates within the G4 forming sequence blocks pilin Av. The sRNA promoter is conserved in all sequenced gonococcal strains, and mutations in the predicted transcript downstream of the G4 forming sequence do not alter pilin Av. A mutation that produces a stronger promoter or substitution of the pilE G4-associated sRNA promoter with a phage promoter (when the phage polymerase was expressed) produced wild-type levels of pilin Av. Altering the direction and orientation of the pilE G4-associated sRNA disrupted pilin Av. In addition, expression of the sRNA at a distal site on the gonococcal chromosome in the context of a promoter mutant did not support pilin Av. We conclude that the DNA containing the G-rich sequence can only form the G4 structure during transcription of this sRNA, thus providing a unique molecular step for the initiation of programmed recombination events.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.