Seminar by Prof. Baard Ove Karlsen

Staphylococcus aureus-induced complement-associated long non-coding RNAs  
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) represent a diverse class of regulatory RNA molecules, which are more than 200 nucleotides long and lack extensive protein-coding potential. The major functions of lncRNAs are in the regulation of transcription, splicing and translation via RNA, DNA or protein interactions. LncRNAs emerge as key regulators of the innate immune response to pathogens, where they are under strict temporal and spatial regulation. The phylogenetic conservation of a specific lncRNA locus is often lost between species, therefore we use a human whole blood model (WBM) to induce the innate immune response to S. aureus and E. coli. By blocking the complement system, we can study how complement dependent lncRNAs propagate in host-pathogen interactions.