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. 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.