Modulation of cAMP metabolism in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its effect on host infection

Tuberculosis ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 208-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeannette Barba ◽  
Angel H. Alvarez ◽  
Mario Alberto Flores-Valdez
Open Biology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 120175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishnamoorthy Gopinath ◽  
Česlovas Venclovas ◽  
Thomas R. Ioerger ◽  
James C. Sacchettini ◽  
John D. McKinney ◽  
...  

Vitamin B 12 -dependent enzymes function in core biochemical pathways in Mycobacterium tuberculosis , an obligate pathogen whose metabolism in vivo is poorly understood. Although M. tuberculosis can access vitamin B 12 in vitro , it is uncertain whether the organism is able to scavenge B 12 during host infection. This question is crucial to predictions of metabolic function, but its resolution is complicated by the absence in the M. tuberculosis genome of a direct homologue of BtuFCD, the only bacterial B 12 transport system described to date. We applied genome-wide transposon mutagenesis to identify M. tuberculosis mutants defective in their ability to use exogenous B 12 . A small proportion of these mapped to Rv1314c , identifying the putative PduO-type ATP : co(I)rrinoid adenosyltransferase as essential for B 12 assimilation. Most notably, however, insertions in Rv1819c dominated the mutant pool, revealing an unexpected function in B 12 acquisition for an ATP-binding cassette (ABC)-type protein previously investigated as the mycobacterial BacA homologue. Moreover, targeted deletion of Rv1819c eliminated the ability of M. tuberculosis to transport B 12 and related corrinoids in vitro . Our results establish an alternative to the canonical BtuCD-type system for B 12 uptake in M. tuberculosis , and elucidate a role in B 12 metabolism for an ABC protein implicated in chronic mycobacterial infection.


2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (28) ◽  
pp. 7426-7431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nitin P. Kalia ◽  
Erik J. Hasenoehrl ◽  
Nurlilah B. Ab Rahman ◽  
Vanessa H. Koh ◽  
Michelle L. T. Ang ◽  
...  

The recent discovery of small molecules targeting the cytochrome bc1:aa3 in Mycobacterium tuberculosis triggered interest in the terminal respiratory oxidases for antituberculosis drug development. The mycobacterial cytochrome bc1:aa3 consists of a menaquinone:cytochrome c reductase (bc1) and a cytochrome aa3-type oxidase. The clinical-stage drug candidate Q203 interferes with the function of the subunit b of the menaquinone:cytochrome c reductase. Despite the affinity of Q203 for the bc1:aa3 complex, the drug is only bacteriostatic and does not kill drug-tolerant persisters. This raises the possibility that the alternate terminal bd-type oxidase (cytochrome bd oxidase) is capable of maintaining a membrane potential and menaquinol oxidation in the presence of Q203. Here, we show that the electron flow through the cytochrome bd oxidase is sufficient to maintain respiration and ATP synthesis at a level high enough to protect M. tuberculosis from Q203-induced bacterial death. Upon genetic deletion of the cytochrome bd oxidase-encoding genes cydAB, Q203 inhibited mycobacterial respiration completely, became bactericidal, killed drug-tolerant mycobacterial persisters, and rapidly cleared M. tuberculosis infection in vivo. These results indicate a synthetic lethal interaction between the two terminal respiratory oxidases that can be exploited for anti-TB drug development. Our findings should be considered in the clinical development of drugs targeting the cytochrome bc1:aa3, as well as for the development of a drug combination targeting oxidative phosphorylation in M. tuberculosis.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ran Chen ◽  
Jie Tu ◽  
Yaoju Tan ◽  
Xingshan Cai ◽  
Chengwen Yang ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe toxin-antitoxin (TA) modules widely exist in bacteria, and their activities are associated with the persister phenotype of the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb). M. tb causes Tuberculosis, a contagious and severe airborne disease. There are ten MazEF TA systems in M. tb, which play important roles in stress adaptation. How the antitoxins antagonize toxins in M. tb or how the ten TA systems crosstalk to each other are of interests, but the detailed molecular mechanisms are largely unclear. MazEF-mt9 is a unique member among the MazEF families due to its tRNase activity, which is usually carried out by the VapC family toxins. Here we present the cocrystal structure of the MazEF-mt9 complex at 2.7 Å. By characterizing the association mode between the TA pairs through various characterization techniques, we found that MazF-mt9 not only bound its cognate antitoxin, but also the non-cognate antitoxin MazE-mt1, a phenomenon that could be also observed in vivo. Based on our structural and biochemical work, we proposed that the cognate and heterologous interactions among different TA systems work together to relieve MazF-mt9’s toxicity to M. tb cells, which may facilitate their adaptation to the stressful conditions encountered during host infection.IMPORTANCETuberculosis (TB) is one of the most severe contagious diseases. Caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb), it poses a serious threat to human health. Additionally, TB is difficult to cure because of the multipledrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) M. tb strains. Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems have been discovered to widely exist in prokaryotic organisms with diverse roles, normally composed of a pair of molecules that antagonize each other. M. tb has ten MazEF systems, and some of them have been proved to be directly associated with the genesis of persisters and drug-resistance of M. tb. We here report the MazEF-mt9 complex structure, and thoroughly characterized the interactions between MazF-mt9 with MazEs within or outside the MazEF-mt9 family. Our study not only revealed the crosstalks between TA families and its significance to M. tb survival but also offers insights into potential anti-TB drug design.


Author(s):  
Catherine Vilchèze ◽  
William R. Jacobs

N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is most commonly used for the treatment of acetaminophen overdose and acetaminophen-induced liver injury. In patients infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), NAC is given to treat hepatotoxicity induced by TB drugs. We had previously shown that cysteine, a derivative of NAC, potentiated the activity of isoniazid, a first-line TB drug, by preventing the emergence of INH resistance and persistence in M. tuberculosis in vitro. Herein, we demonstrate that in vitro, NAC has the same boosting activity with various combinations of first- and second-line TB drugs against drug-susceptible and multidrug-resistant M. tuberculosis strains. Similar to cysteine, NAC increased M. tuberculosis respiration. However, in M. tuberculosis-infected mice, the addition of NAC did not augment the activity of first- or second-line TB drugs. A comparison of the activity of NAC combined with TB drugs in murine and human macrophage cell lines revealed that studies in mice might not be recapitulated during host infection in vivo.


mBio ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. F. Perkowski ◽  
K. E. Zulauf ◽  
D. Weerakoon ◽  
J. D. Hayden ◽  
T. R. Ioerger ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Exported proteins of bacterial pathogens function both in essential physiological processes and in virulence. Past efforts to identify exported proteins were limited by the use of bacteria growing under laboratory (in vitro) conditions. Thus, exported proteins that are exported only or preferentially in the context of infection may be overlooked. To solve this problem, we developed a genome-wide method, named EXIT (exported in vivo technology), to identify proteins that are exported by bacteria during infection and applied it to Mycobacterium tuberculosis during murine infection. Our studies validate the power of EXIT to identify proteins exported during infection on an unprecedented scale (593 proteins) and to reveal in vivo induced exported proteins (i.e., proteins exported significantly more during in vivo infection than in vitro). Our EXIT data also provide an unmatched resource for mapping the topology of M. tuberculosis membrane proteins. As a new approach for identifying exported proteins, EXIT has potential applicability to other pathogens and experimental conditions. IMPORTANCE There is long-standing interest in identifying exported proteins of bacteria as they play critical roles in physiology and virulence and are commonly immunogenic antigens and targets of antibiotics. While significant effort has been made to identify the bacterial proteins that are exported beyond the cytoplasm to the membrane, cell wall, or host environment, current methods to identify exported proteins are limited by their use of bacteria growing under laboratory (in vitro) conditions. Because in vitro conditions do not mimic the complexity of the host environment, critical exported proteins that are preferentially exported in the context of infection may be overlooked. We developed a novel method to identify proteins that are exported by bacteria during host infection and applied it to identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteins exported in a mouse model of tuberculosis. IMPORTANCE There is long-standing interest in identifying exported proteins of bacteria as they play critical roles in physiology and virulence and are commonly immunogenic antigens and targets of antibiotics. While significant effort has been made to identify the bacterial proteins that are exported beyond the cytoplasm to the membrane, cell wall, or host environment, current methods to identify exported proteins are limited by their use of bacteria growing under laboratory (in vitro) conditions. Because in vitro conditions do not mimic the complexity of the host environment, critical exported proteins that are preferentially exported in the context of infection may be overlooked. We developed a novel method to identify proteins that are exported by bacteria during host infection and applied it to identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteins exported in a mouse model of tuberculosis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin B. Clark

Abstract Some neurotropic enteroviruses hijack Trojan horse/raft commensal gut bacteria to render devastating biomimicking cryptic attacks on human/animal hosts. Such virus-microbe interactions manipulate hosts’ gut-brain axes with accompanying infection-cycle-optimizing central nervous system (CNS) disturbances, including severe neurodevelopmental, neuromotor, and neuropsychiatric conditions. Co-opted bacteria thus indirectly influence host health, development, behavior, and mind as possible “fair-weather-friend” symbionts, switching from commensal to context-dependent pathogen-like strategies benefiting gut-bacteria fitness.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document