Horizontal acquisition of a hypoxia-responsive molybdenum cofactor biosynthesis pathway contributed to Mycobacterium tuberculosis pathoadaptation.

ABSTRACT: The unique ability of the tuberculosis (TB) bacillus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, to persist for long periods of time in lung hypoxic lesions chiefly contributes to the global burden of latent TB. We and others previously reported that the M. tuberculosis ancestor underwent massive episodes of horizontal gene transfer (HGT), mostly from environmental species. Here, we sought to explore whether such ancient HGT played a part in M. tuberculosis evolution towards pathogenicity. We were interested by a HGT-acquired M. tuberculosis-specific gene set, namely moaA1-D1, which is involved in the biosynthesis of the molybdenum cofactor. Horizontal acquisition of this gene set was striking because homologues of these moa genes are present all across the Mycobacterium genus, including in M. tuberculos

SUBMITTER: Levillain F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5720804 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature