Transcriptome of phosphomimetic and phosphoablative kasB mutants of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
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ABSTRACT: 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.
ORGANISM(S): Mycobacterium tuberculosis
SUBMITTER: Brian Weinrick
PROVIDER: E-GEOD-47640 | biostudies-arrayexpress |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress
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