# Bacterial Amyloids as Hubs for Nucleic Acid Interactions: Implications and Mechanisms

## TL;DR

This review explores how bacterial amyloids interact with nucleic acids and their roles in both bacterial physiology and human diseases.

## Contribution

The paper highlights the novel regulatory roles of bacterial amyloids in nucleic acid interactions and their potential links to human diseases.

## Key findings

- Bacterial amyloids can interact with nucleic acids and regulate physiological processes.
- These interactions may indirectly contribute to human neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases.
- Bacterial amyloids differ from animal amyloids in being functional rather than pathological.

## Abstract

Amyloids are protein aggregates having a cross-β structure, and they reveal some unusual properties, like interactions with specific dyes and resistance to actions of detergents and proteases, as well as the capability to force some proteins to change their conformation from a soluble form to aggregates. The occurrence of amyloids is not restricted to humans and animals, as they also exist in microbial cells. However, contrary to animals, where amyloids are usually pathological molecules, bacterial amyloids are often functional, participating in various physiological processes. In this review, we focus on a specific property of bacterial amyloids, namely their ability to interact with nucleic acids and resultant regulatory mechanisms. Moreover, some of these interactions might play indirect roles in the pathomechanisms of human neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases; these aspects are also summarized and discussed in this review.