Abstract

Bacterial gene expression depends on the coordinated regulation of RNA synthesis, processing, and decay. The conserved RNA degradosome scaffold, Ribonuclease E (RNase E), assembles into phase-separated bacterial ribonucleoprotein bodies (BR-bodies) through its C-terminal intrinsically disordered region (IDR). This IDR also scaffolds recruitment of degradosome client proteins that carry out post-transcriptional gene regulation. Whether BR-bodies regulate virulence programs to support infection, however, is largely undefined. We show that RNase E of the intracellular pathogen Brucella ovis forms RNA-dependent condensates in vivo and phase-separates with RNA in vitro, with the IDR necessary and sufficient for BR-body assembly. Deleting the IDR (rne({Delta}IDR)) did not impair growth but sensitized Brucella to host-relevant oxidative and cell-envelope stressors. Transcriptome-wide profiling that simultaneously resolved mRNA decay and processing revealed that BR-bodies primarily accelerate mRNA turnover while stabilizing a distinct subset of transcripts. Notably, BR-bodies control the processing and levels of virB type IV secretion system (T4SS) mRNA and the turnover of its key activators, linking condensate-based RNA regulation to a core virulence pathway. Consistent with virB dysregulation, the rne({Delta}IDR) mutant was severely attenuated in mammalian macrophages. To test whether phase separation is sufficient for BR-body function, we replaced the B. ovis IDR with the highly divergent Caulobacter crescentus IDR. This chimera assembled BR-bodies but rescued fitness incompletely, fully restoring oxidative-stress resistance but not cell-envelope stress resistance or intracellular fitness. BR-bodies therefore link RNA metabolism to Brucella stress resistance and infection, and their full function requires both phase separation and additional native IDR-specific activities such as degradosome interactions.