Iturbe Sanz, Pablo

Loading...
Profile Picture

Email Address

Birth Date

Job Title

Last Name

Iturbe Sanz

First Name

Pablo

person.page.departamento

Ciencias de la Salud

person.page.instituteName

person.page.observainves

person.page.upna

Name

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • PublicationOpen Access
    Bacteriophages avoid autoimmunity from cognate immune systems as an intrinsic part of their life cycles
    (Nature Research, 2024) Rostøl, Jakob T.; Quiles Puchalt, Nuria; Iturbe Sanz, Pablo; Lasa Uzcudun, Íñigo; Penadés, José R.; Ciencias de la Salud; Osasun Zientziak
    Dormant prophages protect lysogenic cells by expressing diverse immune systems, which must avoid targeting their cognate prophages upon activation. Here we report that multiple Staphylococcus aureus prophages encode Tha (tail-activated, HEPN (higher eukaryotes and prokaryotes nucleotide-binding) domain-containing anti-phage system), a defence system activated by structural tail proteins of incoming phages. We demonstrate the function of two Tha systems, Tha-1 and Tha-2, activated by distinct tail proteins. Interestingly, Tha systems can also block reproduction of the induced tha-positive prophages. To prevent autoimmunity after prophage induction, these systems are inhibited by the product of a small overlapping antisense gene previously believed to encode an excisionase. This genetic organization, conserved in S. aureus prophages, allows Tha systems to protect prophages and their bacterial hosts against phage predation and to be turned of during prophage induction, balancing immunity and autoimmunity. Our results show that the fne regulation of these processes is essential for the correct development of prophages’ life cycle.
  • PublicationOpen Access
    Noncontiguous operon atlas for the Staphylococcus aureus genome
    (Oxford University Press, 2024) Iturbe Sanz, Pablo; San Martín Bernal, Álvaro; Hamamoto, Hiroshi; Marcet Houben, Marina; Galbaldón, Toni; Solano Goñi, Cristina; Lasa Uzcudun, Íñigo; Ciencias de la Salud; Osasun Zientziak; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
    Bacteria synchronize the expression of genes with related functions by organizing genes into operons so that they are cotranscribed together in a single polycistronic messenger RNA. However, some cellular processes may benefit if the simultaneous production of the operon proteins coincides with the inhibition of the expression of an antagonist gene. To coordinate such situations, bacteria have evolved noncontiguous operons (NcOs), a subtype of operons that contain one or more genes that are transcribed in the opposite direction to the other operon genes. This structure results in overlapping transcripts whose expression is mutually repressed. The presence of NcOs cannot be predicted computationally and their identification requires a detailed knowledge of the bacterial transcriptome. In this study, we used direct RNA sequencing methodology to determine the NcOs map in the Staphylococcus aureus genome. We detected the presence of 18 NcOs in the genome of S. aureus and four in the genome of the lysogenic prophage 80α. The identified NcOs comprise genes involved in energy metabolism, metal acquisition and transport, toxin–antitoxin systems, and control of the phage life cycle. Using the menaquinone operon as a proof of concept, we show that disarrangement of the NcO architecture results in a reduction of bacterial fitness due to an increase in menaquinone levels and a decrease in the rate of oxygen consumption. Our study demonstrates the significance of NcO structures in bacterial physiology and emphasizes the importance of combining operon maps with transcriptomic data to uncover previously unnoticed functional relationships between neighbouring genes.