Common Variants in the Glycerol Kinase Gene Reduce Tuberculosis Drug Efficacy.

ABSTRACT: Despite the administration of multiple drugs that are highly effective in vitro, tuberculosis (TB) treatment requires prolonged drug administration and is confounded by the emergence of drug-resistant strains. To understand the mechanisms that limit antibiotic efficacy, we performed a comprehensive genetic study to identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis genes that alter the rate of bacterial clearance in drug-treated mice. Several functionally distinct bacterial genes were found to alter bacterial clearance, and prominent among these was the glpK gene that encodes the glycerol-3-kinase enzyme that is necessary for glycerol catabolism. Growth on glycerol generally increased the sensitivity of M. tuberculosis to antibiotics in vitro, and glpK-deficient

SUBMITTER: Bellerose MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6667613 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature