Therapeutic Potential of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Mycolic Acid Transporter, MmpL3.

ABSTRACT: In recent years, whole-cell-based screens for novel small molecule inhibitors active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in culture followed by the whole-genome sequencing of spontaneous resistant mutants have identified multiple chemical scaffolds thought to kill the bacterium through the inactivation of the mycolic acid transporter, MmpL3. Consistent with the fact that MmpL3 is required for the formation of the mycobacterial outer membrane, we have conclusively shown in this study, using conditionally regulated knockdown mutants, that mmpL3 is required for the replication and viability of M. tuberculosis, both under standard laboratory growth conditions and during the acute and chronic phases of infection in mice. Speaking for the vulnerability of this target, silencing mmpL3 had a rapid

SUBMITTER: Li W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4997843 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature