The endoribonuclease YbeY is linked to proper cellular morphology and virulence in Brucella abortus

The ybeY locus is hypothesized to produce an endoribonuclease, that is expressed during late exponential phase growth and regulate transcript titers. We used custom-made Affymetrix B. abortus strain 2308 derived GeneChips to compare the gene expression properties of wild type and isogenic ybeY mutant cells. B. abortus strain 2308 or ybeY mutant cells were grown to late exponential phase growth, total bacterial RNA was isolated and subjected to GeneChip hybridization and analysis. We sought to determine the regulatory effects of the ybeY RNA specie(s).