{"doi":"10.1111/mmi.15066","title":"<scp>c‐di‐GMP</scp> regulates activity of the <scp>PlzA RNA</scp> chaperone from the Lyme disease spirochete","abstract":"PlzA is a c-di-GMP-binding protein crucial for adaptation of the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia (Borreliella) burgdorferi during its enzootic life cycle. Unliganded apo-PlzA is important for vertebrate infection, while liganded holo-PlzA is important for survival in the tick; however, the biological function of PlzA has remained enigmatic. Here, we report that PlzA has RNA chaperone activity that is inhibited by c-di-GMP binding. Holo- and apo-PlzA bind RNA and accelerate RNA annealing, while only apo-PlzA can strand displace and unwind double-stranded RNA. Guided by the crystal structure of PlzA, we identified several key aromatic amino acids protruding from the N- and C-terminal domains that are required for RNA-binding and unwinding activity. Our findings illuminate c-di-GMP as a switch controlling the RNA chaperone activity of PlzA, and we propose that complex RNA-mediated modulatory mechanisms allow PlzA to regulate gene expression during both the vector and host phases of the B. burgdorferi life cycle.","journal":"Molecular Microbiology","year":2023,"id":351066,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":9,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9509,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":763050,"name":"Dhara Patel","orcid":"0000-0002-4876-4259","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1095785,"name":"Bruce E. Bowler","orcid":"0000-0003-1543-2466","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1096248,"name":"Michael T. Rothfuss","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":825361,"name":"Allie J. Hall","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":339443,"name":"Christopher Davies","orcid":"0000-0002-6687-4064","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":384501,"name":"Laura S. Hall","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":443700,"name":"Dan Drecktrah","orcid":"0000-0001-7090-6236","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":338026,"name":"Richard T. Marconi","orcid":"0000-0002-6035-7306","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":383730,"name":"D. Scott Samuels","orcid":"0000-0001-8352-7593","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":824914,"name":"Meghan Lybecker","orcid":"0000-0002-4861-1463","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1096247,"name":"Taylor Van Gundy","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":109,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:12:41.740237Z","pmid":"37086029","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}