The Essential Role of Cholesterol Metabolism in the Intracellular Survival of Mycobacterium leprae Is Not Coupled to Central Carbon Metabolism and Energy Production.

ABSTRACT:

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Mycobacterium leprae induces the formation of lipid droplets, which are recruited to pathogen-containing phagosomes in infected macrophages and Schwann cells. Cholesterol is among the lipids with increased abundance in M. leprae-infected cells, and intracellular survival relies on cholesterol accumulation. The present study investigated the capacity of M. leprae to acquire and metabolize cholesterol. In silico analyses showed that oxidation of cholesterol to cholest-4-en-3-one (cholestenone), the first step of cholesterol degradation catalyzed by the enzyme 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSD), is apparently the only portion of the cholesterol catabolic pathway seen in Mycobacterium tuberculosis preserved by M. leprae. Incubation of bacteria with radiolabeled cholest

SUBMITTER: Marques MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4626898 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature