Under stress, bacterial RNA and proteins tell different stories

Under stress, bacterial RNA and proteins tell different stories

During infection, bacteria encounter rapidly changing and stressful environments inside the body. To understand how they adapt, researchers often measure messenger RNA (mRNA), which carries information from genes that can be translated into proteins. While mRNA levels are widely used to monitor bacterial responses, proteins carry out much of the work inside the cell and are influenced by processes that occur after RNA has been produced.