Lsr2 and its novel paralogue mediate the adjustment of Mycobacterium smegmatis to unfavorable environmental conditions. Lsr2 and its novel paralogue mediate the adjustment of Mycobacterium smegmatis to unfavorable environmental conditions

In the present study, we sought to explore the role of Lsr2 as a regulator of transcription in the saprophytic species, M. smegmatis. We used RNA-seq to compare the global transcription profiles of Δlsr2 and wild-type M. smegmatis strains in an attempt to decode Lsr2 regulatory network under optimal conditions or during hypoxia. We show that Lsr2 binds AT-rich regions and mainly acts as a gene repressor, either directly by binding promoter regions or indirectly through DNA-loop formation. Overall design: Total RNA transcriptomic profiles, following ribodepletion with Ribo-Zero kit(Illumina) of M. smegmatis WT nad Δlsr2 strains in two conditions (optimal growth and hypoxia), RNA/cDNA libraries prepared with KAPA stranded RNA preparation kit, True Seq v2 single indexing used for multiplexing.