The Faculty of Medicine

A Hidden Control Center: How Bacteria Regulate Their Attack Strategies

In a study led by Dr. Netanel Elbaz and Lior Aroeti from Prof. Ilan Rosenshine group at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, researchers discovered that the bacterial protein CsrA forms membrane-less compartments inside bacterial cells, acting as temporary control centers that regulate when bacterial virulence. The team tracked how these structures form under conditions mimicking the human gut and how they regulate gene expression. Their findings reveal that such compartments are common across many bacteria, offering new insight into infection processes and potential ways to prevent bacterial diseases.

The CsrA virulence control hub. The spherical black objects are pathogenic bacteria, and the green dot within them represents a control hub containing multiple RNA molecules originated from virulence genes and a high concentration of CsrA that “decides” whether or not to express these genes

Image: Lior Aroeti and Netanel Elbaz.

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