Project description:Mycobacterium tuberculosis has a complex cell envelope that is remodelled throughout infection to respond and survive the hostile and variable intracellular conditions within the host. Despite the importance of cell wall homeostasis in pathogenicity, little is known about the environmental signals and regulatory networks controlling cell wall biogenesis in mycobacteria. The mycolic acid desaturase regulator (MadR) is a transcriptional repressor responsible for regulation of the essential aerobic desaturases desA1 and desA2 that are differentially regulated throughout infection along with mycolate modification genes and thus, likely involved in mycolic acid remodelling. Here we generated a madR null mutant in M. smegmatis that exhibited traits of an impaired cell wall with increased permeability, susceptibility to rifampicin and cell surface disruption as a consequence of desA1/desA2 dysregulation. Analysis of mycolic acids revealed the presence of a highly desaturated mycolate in the null mutant that exists in relative trace amounts in the wildtype, but increases in abundance upon cell surface disruption as a result of relieved repression on the desA1/desA2 promoters. Transcriptomic profiling confirmed MadR as a cell surface disruption responsive regulator of desA1/desA2 and further implicating it in the control of bespoke β-oxidation pathways and transport evolutionarily diversified subnetworks associated with virulence. In vitro characterisation of MadR using electromobility shift assays and analysis of binding affinities is suggestive of a unique acyl-CoA pool sensing mechanism, whereby MadR is able to bind a range of acyl-CoA but MadR repression of desA1/desA2 promoters is only relieved upon binding of saturated acyl-CoA of chain length C16-C24. We propose this acyl effector ligand mechanism as distinct to other regulators of mycolic acid biosynthesis or fatty acid desaturases and places MadR as the key regulatory checkpoint that coordinates mycolic acid remodelling in response to host derived cell surface perturbation
Project description:Background: Mtb's cell wall comprises peptidoglycan, arabinogalactan, and mycolic acids linked to capsule proteins and polysaccharides by noncovalent bonds. Cell division requires extensive remodeling by inserting cell wall-building subunits, which require multiple enzymes to ensure precision and accuracy during the addition and conjugation of biomolecules to the cell wall. Approximately 35% of division and cell wall cluster operon genes are involved in cell wall biosynthesis, 22% in cell division, and 43% are still unstudied. Results: Rv2166c was examined in M. smegmatis, a substitute for M. tuberculosis, using three strains: CRISPR-Cas12a-knockout ∆Ms_4236, complemented ∆Ms_4236::Rv2166c, and pALACE transformed Ms_Vec were grown at 370C in 7H9 or 7H10 to evaluate phenotypic, chemical stress, and antibiotic responses in normoxia and hypoxia. We also examined the whole transcriptome to identify genes associated with MSMEG_4236 deletion of the Rv2166c homolog under normoxia and hypoxia. Deletion and overexpression of Rv2166c affect mycobacterial biofilm formation, cell elongation, colony morphology, and sliding motility in normoxia but are alleviated in hypoxia. Overexpression showed resistance to nucleic acid-target antibiotics, but sensitivity to cell wall-target drugs, yet long-term expression arrests growth. According to transcriptome investigation, the deletion of MSMEG_4236 upregulated all division and cell wall cluster operon genes, several mycolic acids and arabinogalactan biosynthesis genes and downregulated numerous promoters outside of the dcw cluster operon through binding at AAAGTG[G/T] sequence motifs. Conclusion: This study shows that the mycobacterial Rv2166c represses the division and cell wall cluster operon as a transcriptional regulator. Thus, modulating this gene's expression affects many mycobacteria phenotypes and environmental stress resistance. Several AAAGTG[G/T] motifs containing promoters have been found, demonstrating that Rv2166c regulates genes other than its operon. These data suggest that the Rv2166c can be targeted as future antituberculosis medicines.
Project description:Mycobacteria can synthesize NAD+ using either the de novo biosynthesis pathway or the salvage pathway. The deletion of the three genes involved specifically in the NAD+ de novo biosynthesis pathway in the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis had no effect on the growth of the strain in vivo. In contrast, the same deletion in the bovine pathogen Mycobacterium bovis resulted in a strain that could not grow in vivo and could only grow in vitro with substantial nicotinamide supplmentation. This striking difference was attributed to the known defect in the nicotinamidase PncA of M. bovis, since introducing the M. tuberculosis pncA gene into the M. bovis strain defective for de novo NAD+ biosynthesis restored growth in vitro and in vivo. This study demonstrates that NAD+ starvation is a cidal event in mycobacteria and confirms that enzymes common to the de novo and salvage pathways may be good drug targets. We also propose that simultaneously targeting both the salvage and the de novo NAD+ biosynthesis pathways represents a potentially effective way to treat infection with tubercle bacilli. To characterize the lethality induced by nicotinamide starvation transcriptional profiling of the auxotrophs was performed. Triplicate 50 mL cultures of M. tuberculosis and M. bovis Delta nadABC mutants were grown in 7H9 OADC glycerol 0.05% tween broth in 500 mL roller bottles to an OD600nm= 0.1 in a roller incubator at 37°C. The cells were washed 1x in PBS and resuspended in 50 mL 7H9 OADC glycerol 0.05% tween broth with or without 20mg/L nicotinamide and returned to the incubator. After 7 days, cultures were harvested. Three biological replicates of each of two species with one dye-flip each
Project description:Mycobacteria can synthesize NAD+ using either the de novo biosynthesis pathway or the salvage pathway. The deletion of the three genes involved specifically in the NAD+ de novo biosynthesis pathway in the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis had no effect on the growth of the strain in vivo. In contrast, the same deletion in the bovine pathogen Mycobacterium bovis resulted in a strain that could not grow in vivo and could only grow in vitro with substantial nicotinamide supplmentation. This striking difference was attributed to the known defect in the nicotinamidase PncA of M. bovis, since introducing the M. tuberculosis pncA gene into the M. bovis strain defective for de novo NAD+ biosynthesis restored growth in vitro and in vivo. This study demonstrates that NAD+ starvation is a cidal event in mycobacteria and confirms that enzymes common to the de novo and salvage pathways may be good drug targets. We also propose that simultaneously targeting both the salvage and the de novo NAD+ biosynthesis pathways represents a potentially effective way to treat infection with tubercle bacilli. To characterize the lethality induced by nicotinamide starvation transcriptional profiling of the auxotrophs was performed. Triplicate 50 mL cultures of M. tuberculosis and M. bovis Delta nadABC mutants were grown in 7H9 OADC glycerol 0.05% tween broth in 500 mL roller bottles to an OD600nm= 0.1 in a roller incubator at 37°C. The cells were washed 1x in PBS and resuspended in 50 mL 7H9 OADC glycerol 0.05% tween broth with or without 20mg/L nicotinamide and returned to the incubator. After 7 days, cultures were harvested.
Project description:<p>Cyclic di-GMP (c-di-GMP) is a well-known second messenger that plays a key role in many physiological processes in bacteria. The synthesis of lipids is essential for bacterial biofilm formation. However, whether c-di-GMP signaling modulates the synthesis of lipid and further regulates biofilm formation in mycobacteria is unclear, and the c-di-GMP receptor involved remains unknown. In this study, we characterized the nucleoid-associated protein (NAP) Lsr2 as a novel c-di-GMP receptor in mycobacteria. c-di-GMP specifically binds to Lsr2 at a ratio of 1:1. We showed that c-di-GMP promotes mycobacterial biofilm formation in a manner dependent on Lsr2. Furthermore, Lsr2 mediates the synthesis of keto-mycolic acid, the lipid component of the mycobacterial cell wall, by positively regulating the expression of HadD, a (3R)-hydroxyacyl-ACP dehydratase, thus, Lsr2 ultimately controls biofilm formation. Finally, c-di-GMP promotes the positive regulation of HadD by Lsr2 and mycobacterial biofilm formation. Thus, we report a novel c-di-GMP receptor that links the second messenger’s function to lipid synthesis and biofilm formation in mycobacteria.</p>
Project description:We transcriptional profiled four transcription factor knockout strains in S288C background growing in YNB media + 2% glucose to understand the link between mRNA levels and our measured C13 fluxes of amino acid biosynthesis. We conducted this analysis as a follow up to our work on the Gcn4p transcription factor. Keywords: genetic modification
Project description:Mechanisms governing Mycobacterium tuberculosis acid-fastness and its capacity to induce long-term infections remain unknown. Serine/Threonine phosphorylation represents an emerging theme allowing mycobacteria to adapt their cell envelope structure/composition in response to environmental changes. We addressed whether phosphorylation of KasB, a mycolic acid biosynthetic enzyme, modulates M. tuberculosis pathogenicity. Phosphorylation of KasB occurred at Thr334 and Thr336 in vitro and in mycobacteria. A mutant strain bearing an kasB_T334D/T336D allele, mimicking constitutive KasB phosphorylation, was generated by specialized linkage transduction. This resulted in shortened mycolic acids and the lack of trans-cyclopropanation. Structural/modeling analyses revealed Thr334 and Thr336 in the vicinity of the catalytic triad, implying that phosphorylation of these residues impaired KasB activity. Importantly, the phosphomimetic strain lost acid-fast staining and was more attenuated than a kasB deletion mutant in immunocompetent and immunodeficient mice. The absence of lung pathology and mortality infers this mutant to represent a valuable vaccine candidate. This work emphasizes the critical role of Ser/Thr kinase-dependent signaling in controlling mycolic acid elongation, acid-fastness, virulence and has important clinical implications for diagnosis of latent infections. Transcriptome of kasB null, phosphoablative, and phosphomimetic mutants compared to parental. Triplicate 10ml cultures of M. tuberculosis CDC1551 and kasB null, phosphoablative, and phosphomimetic mutants were grown to OD 1.0 and harvested for transcriptional profiling.