FIG 9.

Model of how the FasX sRNA acts as a master regulator of GAS dissemination. The inset is the putative secondary structure of the FasX molecule, with the portion of the molecule involved in mRNA binding highlighted by the green box. The remainder of the figure shows the FasX nucleotides that are involved in the regulation of ska mRNA (red) (22), fctA (pilus) mRNA (blue) (21, 23), prtF1 mRNA (blue), and prtF2 mRNA (blue). Only the mRNA 5′ ends are shown, with the ribosome binding sites (green) and AUG start codons (red) highlighted. The consequences of these interactions also are shown.