22:T517,The environmental bacterium Pseudomonas putida is an organism endowed with a versatile metabolism and stress tolerance traits that are desirable in an efficient production organism. In this work, differential RNA sequencing was used to investigate the primary transcriptome and RNA regulatory elements of P. putida strain KT2440. A total of 7937 putative transcription start sites (TSSs) were identified, where over two-thirds were located either on the opposite strand or internal to annotated genes. For TSSs associated with mRNAs, sequence analysis revealed a clear Shine-Dalgarno sequence but a lack of conserved overrepresented promoter motifs. These TSSs defined approximately 50 leaderless transcripts and an abundance of mRNAs with long leader regions of which 18 contain RNA regulatory elements from the Rfam database. The thiamine pyrophosphate riboswitch upstream of the thiC gene was examined using an in vivo assay with GFP-fusion vectors and shown to function via a translational repression mechanism. Furthermore, 56 novel intergenic small RNAs and 8 putative actuaton transcripts were detected, as well as 8 novel open reading frames (ORFs). This study illustrates how global mapping of TSSs can yield novel insights into the transcriptional features and RNA output of bacterial genomes.23:T4d6,The yeast Candida glabrata is a major opportunistic pathogen causing mucosal and systemic infections in humans. Systemic infections caused by this yeast have high mortality rates and are difficult to treat due to this yeast's intrinsic and frequently adapting antifungal resistance. To understand and treat C. glabrata infections, it is essential to investigate the molecular basis of C. glabrata virulence and resistance. We established an RNA interference (RNAi) system in C. glabrata by expressing the Dicer and Argonaute genes from Saccharomyces castellii (a budding yeast with natural RNAi). Our experiments with reporter genes and putative virulence genes showed that the introduction of RNAi resulted in 30 and 70% gene-knockdown for the construct-types antisense and hairpin, respectively. The resulting C. glabrata RNAi strain was used for the screening of a gene library for new virulence-related genes. Phenotypic profiling with a high-resolution quantification of growth identified genes involved in the maintenance of cell integrity, antifungal drugs, and ROS resistance. The genes identified by this approach are promising targets for the treatment of C. glabrata infections.

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