Concomitant assessment of PD-1 and CD56 expression identifies subsets of resting cord blood Vδ2 T cells with disparate cytotoxic potential.

Vγ9Vδ2 T lymphocytes are programmed for broad antimicrobial responses with rapid production of Th1 cytokines even before birth, and thus thought to play key roles against pathogens in infants. The process regulating Vδ2 cell acquisition of cytotoxic potential shortly after birth remains understudied. We observed that perforin production in cord blood Vδ2 cells correlates with phenotypes defined by the concomitant assessment of PD-1 and CD56. Bulk RNA sequencing of sorted Vδ2 cell fractions indicated that transcripts related to cytotoxic activity and NK function are enriched in the subset with the highest proportion of perforin+ cells. Among differentially expressed transcripts, IRF8, previously linked to CD8 T cell effector differentiation and NK maturation, has the potential to mediate Vδ2 cell differentiation towards cytotoxic effectors. Our current and past results support the hypothesis that distinct mechanisms regulate Vδ2 cell cytotoxic function before and after birth, possibly linked to different levels of microbial exposure.

SigE: A master regulator of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The Extracellular function (ECF) sigma factor SigE is one of the best characterized out of the 13 sigma factors encoded in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis chromosome. SigE is required for blocking phagosome maturation and full virulence in both mice and guinea pigs. Moreover, it is involved in the response to several environmental stresses as surface stress, oxidative stress, acidic pH, and phosphate starvation. Underscoring its importance in M. tuberculosis physiology, SigE is subjected to a very complex regulatory system: depending on the environmental conditions, its expression is regulated by three different sigma factors (SigA, SigE, and SigH) and a two-component system (MprAB). SigE is also regulated at the post-translational level by an anti-sigma factor (RseA) which is regulated by the intracellular redox potential and by proteolysis following phosphorylation from PknB upon surface stress. The set of genes under its direct control includes other regulators, as SigB, ClgR, and MprAB, and genes involved in surface remodeling and stabilization. Recently SigE has been shown to interact with PhoP to activate a subset of genes in conditions of acidic pH. The complex structure of its regulatory network has been suggested to result in a bistable switch leading to the development of heterogeneous bacterial populations. This hypothesis has been recently reinforced by the finding of its involvement in the development of persister cells able to survive to the killing activity of several drugs.

Role of the Extracytoplasmic Function Sigma Factor SigE in the Stringent Response of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Bacteria respond to nutrient starvation implementing the stringent response, a stress signaling system resulting in metabolic remodeling leading to decreased growth rate and energy requirements. A well-characterized model of stringent response in Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the one induced by growth in low phosphate. The extracytoplasmic function (ECF) sigma factor SigE was previously suggested as having a key role in the activation of stringent response. In this study, we challenge this hypothesis by analyzing the temporal dynamics of the transcriptional response of a sigE mutant and its wild-type parental strain to low phosphate using RNA sequencing. We found that both strains responded to low phosphate with a typical stringent response trait, including the downregulation of genes encoding ribosomal proteins and RNA polymerase. We also observed transcriptional changes that support the occurring of an energetics imbalance, compensated by a reduced activity of the electron transport chain, decreased export of protons, and a remodeling of central metabolism. The most striking difference between the two strains was the induction in the sigE mutant of several stress-related genes, in particular, the genes encoding the ECF sigma factor SigH and the transcriptional regulator WhiB6. Since both proteins respond to redox unbalances, their induction suggests that the sigE mutant is not able to maintain redox homeostasis in response to the energetics imbalance induced by low phosphate. In conclusion, our data suggest that SigE is not directly involved in initiating stringent response but in protecting the cell from stress consequent to the low phosphate exposure and activation of stringent response. IMPORTANCE Mycobacterium tuberculosis can enter a dormant state enabling it to establish latent infections and to become tolerant to antibacterial drugs. Dormant bacteria's physiology and the mechanism(s) used by bacteria to enter dormancy during infection are still unknown due to the lack of reliable animal models. However, several in vitro models, mimicking conditions encountered during infection, can reproduce different aspects of dormancy (growth arrest, metabolic slowdown, drug tolerance). The stringent response, a stress response program enabling bacteria to cope with nutrient starvation, is one of them. In this study, we provide evidence suggesting that the sigma factor SigE is not directly involved in the activation of stringent response as previously hypothesized, but it is important to help the bacteria to handle the metabolic stress related to the adaptation to low phosphate and activation of stringent response, thus giving an important contribution to our understanding of the mechanism behind stringent response development.

SigH stress response mediates killing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by activating nitronaphthofuran prodrugs via induction of Mrx2 expression.

The emergence of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains highlights the need to discover anti-tuberculosis drugs with novel mechanisms of action. Here we discovered a mycobactericidal strategy based on the prodrug activation of selected chemical derivatives classified as nitronaphthofurans (nNFs) mediated by the coordinated action of the sigH and mrx2 genes. The transcription factor SigH is a key regulator of an extensive transcriptional network that responds to oxidative, nitrosative, and heat stresses in M. tuberculosis. The nNF action induced the SigH stress response which in turn induced the mrx2 overexpression. The nitroreductase Mrx2 was found to activate nNF prodrugs, killing replicating, non-replicating and intracellular forms of M. tuberculosis. Analysis of SigH DNA sequences obtained from spontaneous nNF-resistant M. tuberculosis mutants suggests disruption of SigH binding to the mrx2 promoter site and/or RNA polymerase core, likely promoting the observed loss of transcriptional control over Mrx2. Mutations found in mrx2 lead to structural defects in the thioredoxin fold of the Mrx2 protein, significantly impairing the activity of the Mrx2 enzyme against nNFs. Altogether, our work brings out the SigH/Mrx2 stress response pathway as a promising target for future drug discovery programs.

LysX2 is a Mycobacterium tuberculosis membrane protein with an extracytoplasmic MprF-like domain.

BACKGROUND: Aminoacyl-phosphatidylglycerol (aaPG) synthases are bacterial enzymes that usually catalyze transfer of aminoacyl residues to the plasma membrane phospholipid phosphatidylglycerol (PG). The result is introduction of positive charges onto the cytoplasmic membrane, yielding reduced affinity towards cationic antimicrobial peptides, and increased resistance to acidic environments. Therefore, these enzymes represent an important defense mechanism for many pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), which are known to encode for lysyl-(Lys)-PG synthase MprF and LysX, respectively. Here, we used a combination of bioinformatic, genetic and bacteriological methods to characterize a protein encoded by the Mtb genome, Rv1619, carrying a domain with high similarity to MprF-like domains, suggesting that this protein could be a new aaPG synthase family member. However, unlike homologous domains of MprF and LysX that are positioned in the cytoplasm, we predicted that the MprF-like domain in LysX2 is in the extracytoplasmic region. RESULTS: Using genetic fusions to the Escherichia coli proteins PhoA and LacZ of LysX2, we confirmed this unique membrane topology, as well as LysX and MprF as benchmarks. Expression of lysX2 in Mycobacterium smegmatis increased cell resistance to human ß-defensin 2 and sodium nitrite, enhanced cell viability and delayed biofilm formation in acidic pH environment. Remarkably, MtLysX2 significantly reduced the negative charge on the bacterial surface upon exposure to an acidic environment. Additionally, we found LysX2 orthologues in major human pathogens and in rapid-growing mycobacteria frequently associated with human infections, but not in environmental and non-pathogenic mycobacteria. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our data suggest that LysX2 is a prototype of a new class within the MprF-like protein family that likely enhances survival of the pathogenic species through its catalytic domain which is exposed to the extracytoplasmic side of the cell membrane and is required to decrease the negative charge on the bacterial surface through a yet uncharacterized mechanism.

Repressible Promoter System to Study Essential Genes in Mycobacteria.

Inducible gene expression systems represent powerful tools for studying essential gene function and for validation of drug targets in bacteria. Even if several regulated promoters have been characterized, only a few of them have been successfully used in Mycobacteria. Here we describe a successful mycobacterial gene regulation system based on the presence of two chromosomally encoded repressors: Pip and TetR, and a tunable promoter (Pptr) that allows a tight regulation of gene expression.

The Phosphatidyl-myo-Inositol Dimannoside Acyltransferase PatA Is Essential for Mycobacterium tuberculosis Growth In Vitro and In Vivo.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis comprises an unusual cell envelope dominated by unique lipids and glycans that provides a permeability barrier against hydrophilic drugs and is central for its survival and virulence. Phosphatidyl-myo-inositol mannosides (PIMs) are glycolipids considered to be not only key structural components of the cell envelope but also the precursors of lipomannan (LM) and lipoarabinomannan (LAM), important lipoglycans implicated in host-pathogen interactions. Here, we focus on PatA, a membrane-associated acyltransferase that transfers a palmitoyl moiety from palmitoyl coenzyme A (palmitoyl-CoA) to the 6-position of the mannose ring linked to the 2-position of inositol in PIM1/PIM2 We validate that the function of PatA is vital for M. tuberculosisin vitro and in vivo We constructed a patA conditional mutant and showed that silencing patA is bactericidal in batch cultures. This phenotype was associated with significantly reduced levels of Ac1PIM2, an important structural component of the mycobacterial inner membrane. The requirement of PatA for viability was also demonstrated during macrophage infection and in a mouse model of infection, where a dramatic decrease in viable counts was observed upon silencing of the patA gene. This is reminiscent of the behavior of PimA, the mannosyltransferase that initiates the PIM pathway, also found to be essential for M. tuberculosis growth in vitro and in vivo Altogether, the experimental data highlight the significance of the early steps of the PIM biosynthetic pathway for M. tuberculosis physiology and reveal that PatA is a novel target for drug discovery programs against this major human pathogen.IMPORTANCE Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent. The emergence of drug resistance in strains of M. tuberculosis, the etiologic agent of TB, emphasizes the need to identify new targets and antimicrobial agents. The mycobacterial cell envelope is a major factor in this intrinsic drug resistance. Here, we have focused on the biosynthesis of PIMs, key virulence factors and important components of the cell envelope. Specifically, we have determined that PatA, the acyltransferase responsible for the first acylation step of the PIM synthesis pathway, is essential in M. tuberculosis These results highlight the importance of early steps of the PIM biosynthetic pathway for mycobacterial physiology and the suitability of PatA as a potential new drug target.

Age-related changes in PD-1 expression coincide with increased cytotoxic potential in Vδ2 T cells during infancy.

Human Vγ9Vδ2 T cells respond to several diverse pathogens by sensing microbial cholesterol intermediates. Unlike CD4 T cells, they are poised for rapid Th1-like responses even before birth, which allows them to play a key role in the first line of defense against pathogens in early life. However, their regulation and functional maturation during infancy (in particular the acquisition of cytotoxic potential) remain understudied. We thus characterized their responses to cholesterol intermediates and Bacille Calmette-Guérin in a cohort of African neonates and 12-month-old infants. Infant Vδ2 lymphocytes exhibited intermediate or adult-like expression of markers associated with differentiation or function, intermediate proliferative responses, and adult-like cytotoxic potential. The enhancement of Vδ2 cell cytotoxic potential coincided with decreasing PD-1 and increasing NKG2A expression. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that switching from a PD-1+ to a NKG2A+ phenotype during infancy indicates a shift in mechanisms regulating Vδ2 T cell function.

Tolerance and Persistence to Drugs: A Main Challenge in the Fight Against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The treatment of tuberculosis is extremely long. One of the reasons why Mycobacterium tuberculosis elimination from the organism takes so long is that in particular environmental conditions it can become tolerant to drugs and/or develop persisters able to survive killing even from very high drug concentrations. Tolerance develops in response to a harsh environment exposure encountered by bacteria during infection, mainly due to the action of the immune system, whereas persistence results from the presence of heterogeneous bacterial populations with different degrees of drug sensitivity, and can be induced by exposure to stress conditions. Here, we review the actual knowledge on the stress response mechanisms enacted by M. tuberculosis during infection, which leads to increased drug tolerance or development of a highly drug-resistant subpopulation.

Publisher Correction: Assessing the role of Rv1222 (RseA) as an anti-sigma factor of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis extracytoplasmic sigma factor SigE.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Construction and Characterization of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis sigE fadD26 Unmarked Double Mutant as a Vaccine Candidate.

Despite the great increase in the understanding of the biology and pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis achieved by the scientific community in recent decades, tuberculosis (TB) still represents one of the major threats to global human health. The only available vaccine (Mycobacterium bovis BCG) protects children from disseminated forms of TB but does not effectively protect adults from the respiratory form of the disease, making the development of new and more-efficacious vaccines against the pulmonary forms of TB a major goal for the improvement of global health. Among the different strategies being developed to reach this goal is the construction of attenuated strains more efficacious and safer than BCG. We recently showed that a sigE mutant of M. tuberculosis was more attenuated and more efficacious than BCG in a mouse model of infection. In this paper, we describe the construction and characterization of an M. tuberculosissigE fadD26 unmarked double mutant fulfilling the criteria of the Geneva Consensus for entering human clinical trials. The data presented suggest that this mutant is even more attenuated and slightly more efficacious than the previous sigE mutant in different mouse models of infection and is equivalent to BCG in a guinea pig model of infection.

Improving the stability of the TetR/Pip-OFF mycobacterial repressible promoter system.

Tightly regulated gene expression systems are powerful tools to study essential genes and characterize potential drug targets. In a past work we reported the construction of a very stringent and versatile repressible promoter system for Mycobacterium tuberculosis based on two different repressors (TetR/Pip-OFF system). This system, causing the repression of the target gene in response to anhydrotetracycline (ATc), has been successfully used in several laboratories to characterize essential genes in different mycobacterial species both in vitro and in vivo. One of the limits of this system was its instability, leading to the selection of mutants in which the expression of the target gene was no longer repressible. In this paper we demonstrated that the instability was mainly due either to the loss of the integrative plasmid carrying the genes encoding the two repressors, or to the selection of a frameshift mutation in the gene encoding the repressors Pip. To solve these problems, we (i) constructed a new integrative vector in which the gene encoding the integrase was deleted to increase its stability, and (ii) developed a new integrative vector carrying the gene encoding Pip to introduce a second copy of this gene in the chromosome. The use of these new tools was shown to reduce drastically the selection of escape mutants.

Assessing the role of Rv1222 (RseA) as an anti-sigma factor of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis extracytoplasmic sigma factor SigE.

σE is one of the 13 sigma factors encoded by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis chromosome, and its involvement in stress response and virulence has been extensively characterized. Several sigma factors are post-translationally regulated by proteins named anti-sigma factors, which prevent their binding to RNA polymerase. Rv1222 (RseA), whose gene lays immediately downstream sigE, has been proposed in the past as the σE-specific anti sigma factor. However, its role as anti-sigma factor was recently challenged and a new mechanism of action was hypothesized predicting RseA binding to RNA polymerase and DNA to slow down RNA transcription in a not specific way. In this manuscript, using specific M. tuberculosis mutants, we showed that by changing the levels of RseA expression, M. tuberculosis growth rate does not change (as hypothesized in case of non-specific decrease of RNA transcription) and has an impact only on the transcription level of genes whose transcriptional control is under σE, supporting a direct role of RseA as a specific anti-σE factor.

Promoter mutagenesis for fine-tuning expression of essential genes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

A range of regulated gene expression systems has been developed for mycobacteria in the last few years to facilitate the study of essential genes, validate novel drug targets and evaluate their vulnerability. Among these, the TetR/Pip-OFF repressible promoter system was successfully used in several mycobacterial species both in vitro and in vivo. In the first version of the system, the repressible promoter was Pptr , a strong Pip-repressible promoter of Streptomyces pristinaespiralis, which might hamper effective downregulation of genes with a low basal expression level. Here, we report an enhanced system that allows more effective control of genes expressed at low level. To this end, we subjected Pptr to targeted mutagenesis and produced 16 different promoters with different strength. Three of them, weaker than the wild-type promoter, were selected and characterized showing that they can indeed improve the performances of TetR/Pip-OFF repressible system both in vitro and in vivo increasing its stringency. Finally, we used these promoters to construct a series of bacterial biosensors with different sensitivity to DprE1 inhibitors and developed a whole-cell screening assay to identify inhibitors of this enzyme.

The Alternative Sigma Factors SigE and SigB Are Involved in Tolerance and Persistence to Antitubercular Drugs.

The emergence and spread of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains possibly threaten our ability to treat this disease in the future. Even though two new antitubercular drugs have recently been introduced, there is still the need to design new molecules whose mechanisms of action could reduce the length of treatment. We show that two alternative sigma factors of M. tuberculosis (SigE and SigB) have a major role in determining the level of basal resistance to several drugs and the amount of persisters surviving long-duration drug treatment. We also demonstrate that ethambutol, a bacteriostatic drug, is highly bactericidal for M. tuberculosis mutants missing either SigE or SigB. We suggest that molecules able to interfere with the activity of SigE or SigB not only could reduce M. tuberculosis virulence in vivo but also could boost the effect of other drugs by increasing the sensitivity of the organism and reducing the number of persisters able to escape killing.

The antibacterial prodrug activator Rv2466c is a mycothiol-dependent reductase in the oxidative stress response of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis rv2466c gene encodes an oxidoreductase enzyme annotated as DsbA. It has a CPWC active-site motif embedded within its thioredoxin fold domain and mediates the activation of the prodrug TP053, a thienopyrimidine derivative that kills both replicating and nonreplicating bacilli. However, its mode of action and actual enzymatic function in M. tuberculosis have remained enigmatic. In this study, we report that Rv2466c is essential for bacterial survival under H2O2 stress. Further, we discovered that Rv2466c lacks oxidase activity; rather, it receives electrons through the mycothiol/mycothione reductase/NADPH pathway to activate TP053, preferentially via a dithiol-disulfide mechanism. We also found that Rv2466c uses a monothiol-disulfide exchange mechanism to reduce S-mycothiolated mixed disulfides and intramolecular disulfides. Genetic, phylogenetic, bioinformatics, structural, and biochemical analyses revealed that Rv2466c is a novel mycothiol-dependent reductase, which represents a mycoredoxin cluster of enzymes within the DsbA family different from the glutaredoxin cluster to which mycoredoxin-1 (Mrx1 or Rv3198A) belongs. To validate this DsbA-mycoredoxin cluster, we also characterized a homologous enzyme of Corynebacterium glutamicum (NCgl2339) and observed that it demycothiolates and reduces a mycothiol arsenate adduct with kinetic properties different from those of Mrx1. In conclusion, our work has uncovered a DsbA-like mycoredoxin that promotes mycobacterial resistance to oxidative stress and reacts with free mycothiol and mycothiolated targets. The characterization of the DsbA-like mycoredoxin cluster reported here now paves the way for correctly classifying similar enzymes from other organisms.

PknG senses amino acid availability to control metabolism and virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Sensing and response to changes in nutrient availability are essential for the lifestyle of environmental and pathogenic bacteria. Serine/threonine protein kinase G (PknG) is required for virulence of the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and its putative substrate GarA regulates the tricarboxylic acid cycle in M. tuberculosis and other Actinobacteria by protein-protein binding. We sought to understand the stimuli that lead to phosphorylation of GarA, and the roles of this regulatory system in pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria. We discovered that M. tuberculosis lacking garA was severely attenuated in mice and macrophages and furthermore that GarA lacking phosphorylation sites failed to restore the growth of garA deficient M. tuberculosis in macrophages. Additionally we examined the impact of genetic disruption of pknG or garA upon protein phosphorylation, nutrient utilization and the intracellular metabolome. We found that phosphorylation of GarA requires PknG and depends on nutrient availability, with glutamate and aspartate being the main stimuli. Disruption of pknG or garA caused opposing effects on metabolism: a defect in glutamate catabolism or depletion of intracellular glutamate, respectively. Strikingly, disruption of the phosphorylation sites of GarA was sufficient to recapitulate defects caused by pknG deletion. The results suggest that GarA is a cellular target of PknG and the metabolomics data demonstrate that the function of this signaling system is in metabolic regulation. This function in amino acid homeostasis is conserved amongst the Actinobacteria and provides an example of the close relationship between metabolism and virulence.

A Phenotypic Based Target Screening Approach Delivers New Antitubercular CTP Synthetase Inhibitors.

Despite its great potential, the target-based approach has been mostly unsuccessful in tuberculosis drug discovery, while whole cell phenotypic screening has delivered several active compounds. However, for many of these hits, the cellular target has not yet been identified, thus preventing further target-based optimization of the compounds. In this context, the newly validated drug target CTP synthetase PyrG was exploited to assess a target-based approach of already known, but untargeted, antimycobacterial compounds. To this purpose the publically available GlaxoSmithKline antimycobacterial compound set was assayed, uncovering a series of 4-(pyridin-2-yl)thiazole derivatives which efficiently inhibit the Mycobacterium tuberculosis PyrG enzyme activity, one of them showing low activity against the human CTP synthetase. The three best compounds were ATP binding site competitive inhibitors, with Ki values ranging from 3 to 20 µM, but did not show any activity against a small panel of different prokaryotic and eukaryotic kinases, thus demonstrating specificity for the CTP synthetases. Metabolic labeling experiments demonstrated that the compounds directly interfere not only with CTP biosynthesis, but also with other CTP dependent biochemical pathways, such as lipid biosynthesis. Moreover, using a M. tuberculosis pyrG conditional knock-down strain, it was shown that the activity of two compounds is dependent on the intracellular concentration of the CTP synthetase. All these results strongly suggest a role of PyrG as a target of these compounds, thus strengthening the value of this kind of approach for the identification of new scaffolds for drug development.

Essentiality of mmpL3 and impact of its silencing on Mycobacterium tuberculosis gene expression.

MmpL3 is an inner membrane transporter of Mycobacterium tuberculosis responsible for the export of trehalose momomycolate, a precursor of the mycobacterial outer membrane component trehalose dimycolate (TDM), as well as mycolic acids bound to arabinogalactan. MmpL3 represents an emerging target for tuberculosis therapy. In this paper, we describe the construction and characterization of an mmpL3 knockdown strain of M. tuberculosis. Downregulation of mmpL3 led to a stop in bacterial division and rapid cell death, preceded by the accumulation of TDM precursors. MmpL3 was also shown to be essential for growth in monocyte-derived human macrophages. Using RNA-seq we also found that MmpL3 depletion caused up-regulation of 47 genes and down-regulation of 23 genes (at least 3-fold change and false discovery rate ≤1%). Several genes related to osmoprotection and metal homeostasis were induced, while several genes related to energy production and mycolic acids biosynthesis were repressed suggesting that inability to synthesize a correct outer membrane leads to changes in cellular permeability and a metabolic downshift.

Micrococcin P1 - A bactericidal thiopeptide active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The lack of proper treatment for serious infectious diseases due to the emergence of multidrug resistance reinforces the need for the discovery of novel antibiotics. This is particularly true for tuberculosis (TB) for which 3.7% of new cases and 20% of previously treated cases are estimated to be caused by multi-drug resistant strains. In addition, in the case of TB, which claimed 1.5 million lives in 2014, the treatment of the least complicated, drug sensitive cases is lengthy and disagreeable. Therefore, new drugs with novel targets are urgently needed to control resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains. In this manuscript we report the characterization of the thiopeptide micrococcin P1 as an anti-tubercular agent. Our biochemical experiments show that this antibiotic inhibits the elongation step of protein synthesis in mycobacteria. We have further identified micrococcin resistant mutations in the ribosomal protein L11 (RplK); the mutations were located in the proline loop at the N-terminus. Reintroduction of the mutations into a clean genetic background, confirmed that they conferred resistance, while introduction of the wild type RplK allele into resistant strains re-established sensitivity. We also identified a mutation in the 23S rRNA gene. These data, in good agreement with previous structural studies suggest that also in M. tuberculosis micrococcin P1 functions by binding to the cleft between the 23S rRNA and the L11 protein loop, thus interfering with the binding of elongation factors Tu and G (EF-Tu and EF-G) and inhibiting protein translocation.