Metabolic Switching of Mycobacterium tuberculosis during Hypoxia Is Controlled by the Virulence Regulator PhoP.

ABSTRACT: Mycobacterium tuberculosis retains the ability to establish an asymptomatic latent infection. A fundamental question in mycobacterial physiology is to understand the mechanisms involved in hypoxic stress, a critical player in persistence. Here, we show that the virulence regulator PhoP responds to hypoxia, the dormancy signal, and effectively integrates hypoxia with nitrogen metabolism. We also provide evidence to demonstrate that both under nitrogen limiting conditions and during hypoxia, phoP locus controls key genes involved in nitrogen metabolism. Consistently, under hypoxia a ΔphoP strain shows growth attenuation even with surplus nitrogen, the alternate electron acceptor, and complementation of the mutant restores bacterial growth. Together, our observations provide new biological in

SUBMITTER: Singh PR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7167471 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature