Background Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) play an important role in bacterial gene expression and regulation. The knowledge of sRNA in Neisseria gonorrhoeae is scarce despite of its clinical significance. We utilized the available RNA-seq data under aerobic and anaerobic condition to identify non-coding RNA. We further identified sRNAs which are differentially expressed under anaerobic condition and their mRNA targets.

Methods The normalized reads (RPKM) under aerobic and anaerobic conditions were compared and a three-fold or greater difference in the expression level of sRNAs was scored as differentially expressed sRNA. sRNA targets were found using online available tools (CopraRNA, targetRNA2). We further predicted the sRNA-mRNA interactions using intaRNA tool.

Results A total of 26 sRNAs were identified. Out of which, ten sRNAs were differentially expressed under anaerobic condition, physiologically important stage during infection. We further identified mRNA targets of these sRNAs based on deep sequencing of N. gonorrhoeae transcriptome under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. These results indicated that several sRNAs target genes that are involved in energy metabolism processes, stress response and various other networks.

Conclusion Our results provide new insights into the post-transcriptional regulation of genes by sRNAs in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Disclosure No significant relationships.