Polyketide Quinones Are Alternate Intermediate Electron Carriers during Mycobacterial Respiration in Oxygen-Deficient Niches.

ABSTRACT: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) adaptation to hypoxia is considered crucial to its prolonged latent persistence in humans. Mtb lesions are known to contain physiologically heterogeneous microenvironments that bring about differential responses from bacteria. Here we exploit metabolic variability within biofilm cells to identify alternate respiratory polyketide quinones (PkQs) from both Mycobacterium smegmatis (Msmeg) and Mtb. PkQs are specifically expressed in biofilms and other oxygen-deficient niches to maintain cellular bioenergetics. Under such conditions, these metabolites function as mobile electron carriers in the respiratory electron transport chain. In the absence of PkQs, mycobacteria escape from the hypoxic core of biofilms and prefer oxygen-rich conditions. Unlike the ubiquito

SUBMITTER: Anand A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6051517 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature