RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 An RNA-binding protein secreted by Listeria monocytogenes activates RIG-I signaling JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 543652 DO 10.1101/543652 A1 Alessandro Pagliuso A1 To Nam Tham A1 Eric Allemand A1 Stevens Robertin A1 Bruno Dupuy A1 Quentin Bertrand A1 Christophe Bécavin A1 Mikael Koutero A1 Valérie Najburg A1 Marie-Anne Nahori A1 Fabrizia Stavru A1 Andréa Dessen A1 Christian Muchard A1 Alice Lebreton A1 Anastassia V. Komarova A1 Pascale Cossart YR 2019 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/02/07/543652.abstract AB Recent studies have reported on the presence of bacterial RNA within or outside extracellular membrane vesicles, possibly as ribonucleoprotein complexes. Proteins that bind and stabilize bacterial RNAs in the extracellular environment have not been reported. Here, we show that the bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes secretes a small RNA binding protein that we named Zea. We show that Zea binds and stabilizes a subset of L. monocytogenes RNAs causing their accumulation in the extracellular medium. Furthermore, Zea binds RIG-I, the vertebrate non-self-RNA innate immunity sensor and potentiates RIG-I-signaling leading to interferon β production. By performing in vivo infection, we finally show that Zea modulates L. monocytogenes virulence. Together, this study reveals that bacterial extracellular RNAs and RNA binding proteins can affect the host-pathogen crosstalk.