Membrane Tethering of SepF, a Membrane Anchor for the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Z-ring.

Bacterial cell division begins with the formation of the Z-ring via polymerization of FtsZ and the localization of Z-ring beneath the inner membrane through membrane anchors. In Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), SepF is one such membrane anchor, but our understanding of the underlying mechanism is very limited. Here we used molecular dynamics simulations to characterize how SepF itself, a water-soluble protein, tethers to acidic membranes that mimic the Mtb inner membrane. In addition to an amphipathic helix (residues 1-12) at the N-terminus, membrane binding also occurs through two stretches of positively charged residues (Arg27-Arg37 and Arg95-Arg107) in the long linker preceding the FtsZ-binding core domain (residues 128-218). The additional interactions via the disordered linker stabilize the membrane tethering of SepF, and keep the core domain of SepF and hence the attached Z-ring close to the membrane. The resulting membrane proximity of the Z-ring in turn enables its interactions with and thus recruitment of two membrane proteins, FtsW and CrgA, at the late stage of cell division.

Tuberculosis osteoarticular en un paciente pediátrico / Osteoarticular tuberculosis in a pediatric patient

Introducción: La tuberculosis osteoarticular es una enfermedad inflamatoria crónica, muy rara con un cuadro clínico atípico y se presenta con una incidencia de 1-2 por ciento del total de los casos de tuberculosis. Objetivo: Exponer una forma de presentación poco frecuente de tuberculosis en Honduras Presentación del caso: Se trata de una niña de dos años con diagnóstico inicial de sinovitis en rodilla derecha de cinco meses de evolución y tratada con antibiótico y analgésico. Sin mejoría se presenta a emergencia con cambios inflamatorios. Se realiza rayos x de rodilla que muestran lesiones osteolíticas a nivel de rótula y cóndilo del fémur derecho. Baciloscopia de esputo y prueba de tuberculina negativas. Familiar de tercer grado positivo para tuberculosis hacía un año y medio. Por biopsia de tejido blando y óseo de rodilla derecha se establece el diagnóstico de artritis por Mycobacterium tuberculosis por estudio inmuno-histoquimico con tinción Ziehl Nielsen. Conclusiones: Es el primer informe de caso de tuberculosis osteoarticular en un paciente pediátrico descrito en Honduras. Por la larga evolución de la enfermedad, lo atípico de su clínica y su baja incidencia es difícil establecer el diagnóstico final. Fue imprescindible el estudio anatomopatológico por biopsia que permitiera esclarecer a los clínicos el diagnóstico e iniciar el tratamiento oportuno(AU)

Introduction: Osteoarticular tuberculosis is a chronic inflammatory disease, very rare, and with an atypical clinical picture and occurs with an incidence of 1-2 percent of all TB cases. Objective: Show a rare form of TB´s presentation in Honduras Case presentation: Two-year-old girl with an initial diagnosis of right knee synovitis of five months of evolution and treated with antibiotics and analgesics. Without improvement, she attends to emergencies service with inflammatory changes. Knee x-rays show osteolytic lesions at the kneecap level and the condyle of the right femur. Sputum bacilloscopy and negative tuberculin test were performed. She had a third-grade relative positive to tuberculosis a year and a half ago. A right knee soft tissue and bone biopsies confirm the diagnosis of arthritis by Mycobacterium tuberculosis by immuno-histochemical study with Ziehl Nielsen staining. Conclusions: It is the first osteoarticular TB case report in a pediatric patient described in Honduras. Because of the long evolution of the disease, the atypicalness of its clinic features and its low incidence, it is difficult to establish the final diagnosis. Anatomopathological study by biopsy was essential to clarify the diagnosis to clinicians and initiate timely treatment(AU)

Exploring Targets of Cell Wall Protein Synthesis and Overexpression Mediated Drug Resistance for the Discovery of Potential M. tb Inhibitors.

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease engulfing millions of lives worldwide; it is caused by mammalian Tubercle bacilli, Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, which may consist of strains viz. M. tuberculosis hominis (human strain), M. microti, M. pinnipedii and M. canettii. The other pathogenic strain is M. africanum, which belongs to the M. tuberculosis complex and it is fully virulent for humans. The non-pathogenic strains in the complex may include M. fortuitum and M.smegmatis. Extensive research has been carried out to combat this dangerous disease. World Health Organization proposed Directly Observed Treatment Short-course regimen (DOTS) for the eradication of TB. In addition, the compounds such as TBA-7371, TBI-166, AZD5847 and PBTZ-169 are under clinical trials whereas the recently FDA-approved anti-tubercular drugs are Pretomanid (PA-824), Bedaquiline (TMC207), Linezolid (PNU-100480) and Delamanid (OPC-67683). The early detection of mycobacterium tuberculosis can be permanently cured by DOTS comprising Pyrazinamide (Z), Isoniazid (H), Rifampin (R) and Ethambutol (E). The duration of treatment depends on the viability of the disease. DOTS can target to disrupt the biosynthesis of mycobacterial cell wall proteins expressed by various genes. Overexpression of these genes may produce drug-resistant due to dose misuse or the intake of quality compromised anti-tubercular drug regimen. Therefore, in the present review, there has been a necessity to report the second line anti-tubercular chemotherapeutics to target various proteins which are the building blocks of M. tb cell wall, overexpression of which may produce drug resistance.

Chemical Synthesis of Cell Wall Constituents of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), causing tuberculosis disease, features an extraordinary thick cell envelope, rich in Mtb-specific lipids, glycolipids, and glycans. These cell wall components are often directly involved in host-pathogen interaction and recognition, intracellular survival, and virulence. For decades, these mycobacterial natural products have been of great interest for immunology and synthetic chemistry alike, due to their complex molecular structure and the biological functions arising from it. The synthesis of many of these constituents has been achieved and aided the elucidation of their function by utilizing the synthetic material to study Mtb immunology. This review summarizes the synthetic efforts of a quarter century of total synthesis and highlights how the synthesis layed the foundation for immunological studies as well as drove the field of organic synthesis and catalysis to efficiently access these complex natural products.

The Mur Enzymes Chink in the Armour of Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell wall.

TUBERCULOSIS: (TB) transmitted by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is one of the top 10 causes of death globally. Currently, the widespread occurrence of resistance toward Mtb strains is becoming a significant concern to public health. This scenario exaggerated the need for the discovery of novel targets and their inhibitors. Targeting the "Mtb cell wall peptidoglycan synthesis" is an attractive strategy to overcome drug resistance. Mur enzymes (MurA-MurF) play essential roles in the peptidoglycan synthesis by catalyzing the ligation of key amino acid residues to the stem peptide. These enzymes are unique and confined to the eubacteria and are absent in humans, representing potential targets for anti-tubercular drug discovery. Mtb Mur ligases with the same catalytic mechanism share conserved amino acid regions and structural features that can conceivably exploit for the designing of the inhibitors, which can simultaneously target more than one isoforms (MurC-MurF) of the enzyme. In light of these findings in the current review, we have discussed the recent advances in medicinal chemistry of Mtb Mur enzymes (MurA-MurF) and their inhibitors, offering attractive multi-targeted strategies to combat the problem of drug-resistant in M. tuberculosis.

A Fluorogenic Trehalose Probe for Tracking Phagocytosed Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) disease is a global epidemic caused by the pathogenic Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Tools that can track the replication status of viable Mtb cells within macrophages are vital for the elucidation of host-pathogen interactions. Here, we present a cephalosphorinase-dependent green trehalose (CDG-Tre) fluorogenic probe that enables fluorescence labeling of single live Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) cells within macrophages at concentrations as low as 2 µM. CDG-Tre fluoresces upon activation by BlaC, the ß-lactamase uniquely expressed by Mtb, and the fluorescent product is subsequently incorporated within the bacterial cell wall via trehalose metabolic pathway. CDG-Tre showed high selectivity for mycobacteria over other clinically prevalent species in the Corynebacterineae suborder. The unique labeling strategy of BCG by CDG-Tre provides a versatile tool for tracking Mtb in both pre- and postphagocytosis and elucidating fundamental physiological and pathological processes related to the mycomembrane.

Morphological profiling of tubercle bacilli identifies drug pathways of action.

Morphological profiling is a method to classify target pathways of antibacterials based on how bacteria respond to treatment through changes to cellular shape and spatial organization. Here we utilized the cell-to-cell variation in morphological features of Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli to develop a rapid profiling platform called Morphological Evaluation and Understanding of Stress (MorphEUS). MorphEUS classified 94% of tested drugs correctly into broad categories according to modes of action previously identified in the literature. In the other 6%, MorphEUS pointed to key off-target activities. We observed cell wall damage induced by bedaquiline and moxifloxacin through secondary effects downstream from their main target pathways. We implemented MorphEUS to correctly classify three compounds in a blinded study and identified an off-target effect for one compound that was not readily apparent in previous studies. We anticipate that the ability of MorphEUS to rapidly identify pathways of drug action and the proximal cause of cellular damage in tubercle bacilli will make it applicable to other pathogens and cell types where morphological responses are subtle and heterogeneous.

The protein kinase PknB negatively regulates biosynthesis and trafficking of mycolic acids in mycobacteria.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the causative agent of tuberculosis and remains one of the most widespread and deadliest bacterial pathogens in the world. A distinguishing feature of mycobacteria that sets them apart from other bacteria is the unique architecture of their cell wall, characterized by various species-specific lipids, most notably mycolic acids (MAs). Therefore, targeted inhibition of enzymes involved in MA biosynthesis, transport, and assembly has been extensively explored in drug discovery. Additionally, more recent evidence suggests that many enzymes in the MA biosynthesis pathway are regulated by kinase-mediated phosphorylation, thus opening additional drug-development opportunities. However, how phosphorylation regulates MA production remains unclear. Here, we used genetic strategies combined with lipidomics and phosphoproteomics approaches to investigate the role of protein phosphorylation in Mycobacterium The results of this analysis revealed that the Ser/Thr protein kinase PknB regulates the export of MAs and promotes the remodeling of the mycobacterial cell envelope. In particular, we identified the essential MmpL3 as a substrate negatively regulated by PknB. Taken together, our findings add to the understanding of how PknB activity affects the mycobacterial MA biosynthesis pathway and reveal the essential role of protein phosphorylation/dephosphorylation in governing lipid metabolism, paving the way for novel antimycobacterial strategies.

The thick waxy coat of mycobacteria, a protective layer against antibiotics and the host's immune system.

Tuberculosis, caused by the pathogenic bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is the leading cause of death from an infectious disease, with a mortality rate of over a million people per year. This pathogen's remarkable resilience and infectivity is largely due to its unique waxy cell envelope, 40% of which comprises complex lipids. Therefore, an understanding of the structure and function of the cell wall lipids is of huge indirect clinical significance. This review provides a synopsis of the cell envelope and the major lipids contained within, including structure, biosynthesis and roles in pathogenesis.

Cyto-genotoxic evaluation of novel anti-tubercular copper (II) complexes containing isoniazid-based ligands.

Considering the promising previous results of Cu (II) complexes with isoniazid active ligand against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the main causative agent of tuberculosis, novel biological assays evaluating its toxicogenic potential were performed to ensure the safe use. The genotoxicity/mutagenicity of the complexes CuCl2(INH)2.H2O (I1), Cu(NCS)2(INH)2.5H2O (I2) and Cu(NCO)2(INH)2.4H2O (I3) was evaluated by the Comet, Micronucleus-cytome and Salmonella microsome (Ames test) assays. The cell viability using resazurin assay indicated that I1, I2 e I3 had moderate to low capacity to reduce the viability of colorectal cells (Caco-2), liver cells (HepG2), lung cells (GM 07492-A and A549) and endothelial cells (HU-VE-C). On genotoxicity/mutagenicity, I1 complex did not induce sizable levels of DNA damage in HepG2 cells (Comet assay), and gene (Ames test) and chromosomal (Micronucleus-cytome assay) mutations. Already, I2 and I3 complexes were considered mutagenic in the highest concentrations used. In light of the above, these results contribute to valuable data on the safe use of Cu(II) complexes. Considering the absence of mutagenicity and cytotoxicity of I1, this complex is a potential candidate for the development of a new drug to the treatment tuberculosis, while I2 and I3 require caution in its use.

Rab7 controls lipid droplet-phagosome association during mycobacterial infection.

Lipid droplets (LDs) are organelles that have multiple roles in inflammatory and infectious diseases. LD act as essential platforms for immunometabolic regulation, including as sites for lipid storage and metabolism, inflammatory lipid mediator production, and signaling pathway compartmentalization. Accumulating evidence indicates that intracellular pathogens may exploit host LDs as source of nutrients and as part of their strategy to promote immune evasion. Notably, numerous studies have demonstrated the interaction between LDs and pathogen-containing phagosomes. However, the mechanism involved in this phenomenon remains elusive. Here, we observed LDs and PLIN2 surrounding M. bovis BCG-containing phagosomes, which included observations of a bacillus cell surrounded by lipid content inside a phagosome and LAM from mycobacteria co-localizing with LDs; these results were suggestive of exchange of contents between these compartments. By using beads coated with M.tb lipids, we demonstrated that LD-phagosome associations are regulated through the mycobacterial cell wall components LAM and PIM. In addition, we demonstrated that Rab7 and RILP, but not Rab5, localizes to LDs of infected macrophages and observed the presence of Rab7 at the site of interaction with an infected phagosome. Moreover, treatment of macrophages with the Rab7 inhibitor CID1067700 significantly inhibited the association between LDs and LAM-coated beads. Altogether, our data demonstrate that LD-phagosome interactions are controlled by mycobacterial cell wall components and Rab7, which enables the exchange of contents between LDs and phagosomes and may represent a fundamental aspect of bacterial pathogenesis and immune evasion.

Evaluation of Various Diagnostic Techniques for the Diagnosis of Pulmonary and Extra Pulmonary Tuberculosis at a Tertiary Care Center in North India.

INTRODUCTION: Tuberculosis (TB) is a one of the main causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Bactec MGIT (Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube) system is a rapid, reliable automated system for early diagnosis of pulmonary and extra pulmonary TB in setups where purchase of expensive instruments is not possible. The present study was thus carried out to evaluate AFB microscopy, culture on Lowenstein Jensen media and micro MGIT system for early and accurate diagnosis of Tuberculosis. METHODS: A total of 280 samples were processed for direct AFB smear examination, and culture on micro MGIT and LJ media. The identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in positive cultures was done by MPT64 Ag card test (BD MGIT TBC Identification Test). RESULTS: Out of the processed samples, (47.1%) 132/280 were positive for Mycobacterium spp by Micro MGIT, (35%) 98/280 on LJ medium and (25.7%) 72/280 by AFB smear. A total of (48.5%) 136 samples were positive by a combination of Micro MGIT and LJ medium. Among the total positive samples (136/280), Micro MGIT was found to be positive in 97% (132/136) of samples, LJ was positive in 72% (98/136), while 52.9% (72/136) were positive by AFB smear. CONCLUSION: Manual MGIT System is a simple and efficient, safe to use the diagnostic system. It does not require any expensive/special instrumentation other than the UV lamp for the detection of fluorescence. In areas with limited resources where the purchase of expensive instruments such as the MGIT 960 is out of scope, the use of manual MGIT for rapid susceptibility testing for MDR-TB could be an option. We would recommend testing MGIT 960 using first and secondline drugs to determine DST.

Screening of natural compounds that targets glutamate racemase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis reveals the anti-tubercular potential of flavonoids.

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), a highly infectious disease accounting for nearly 1.5 million deaths every year and has been a major global concern. Moreover, resistance to anti-TB drugs is an arduous obstacle to effective prevention, TB care and management. Therefore, incessant attempts are being made to identify novel drug targets and newer anti-tubercular drugs to fight with this deadly pathogen. Increasing resistance, adverse effects and costly treatment by conventional therapeutic agents have been inclining the researchers to search for an alternative source of medicine. In this regard natural compounds have been exploited extensively for their therapeutic interventions targeting cellular machinery of MTB. Glutamate racemase (MurI) is an enzyme involved in peptidoglycan (PG) biosynthesis and has become an attractive target due to its moonlighting property. We screened various classes of natural compounds using computational approach for their binding to MTB-MurI. Shortlisted best docked compounds were evaluated for their functional, structural and anti-mycobacterial activity. The results showed that two flavonoids (naringenin and quercetin) exhibited best binding affinity with MTB-MurI and inhibited the racemization activity with induced structural perturbation. In addition, fluorescence and electron microscopy were employed to confirm the membrane and cell wall damages in mycobacterial cells on exposure to flavonoids. Together, these observations could provide impetus for further research in better understanding of anti-tubercular mechanisms of flavonoids and establishing them as lead molecules for TB treatment.

Persistent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in mice requires PerM for successful cell division.

The ability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) to persist in its host is central to the pathogenesis of tuberculosis, yet the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely defined. PerM, an integral membrane protein, is required for persistence of Mtb in mice. Here, we show that perM deletion caused a cell division defect specifically during the chronic phase of mouse infection, but did not affect Mtb's cell replication during acute infection. We further demonstrate that PerM is required for cell division in chronically infected mice and in vitro under host-relevant stresses because it is part of the mycobacterial divisome and stabilizes the essential divisome protein FtsB. These data highlight the importance of sustained cell division for Mtb persistence, define condition-specific requirements for cell division and reveal that survival of Mtb during chronic infection depends on a persistence divisome.

Revealing the Metabolic Activity of Persisters in Mycobacteria by Single-Cell D2O Raman Imaging Spectroscopy.

The metabolic activity of bacterial cells largely differentiates even within a clonal population. Such metabolic divergence among cells is thought to play an important role for phenotypic adaptation to ever-changing environmental conditions, such as antibiotic persistence. It has long been thought that persisters are in a state called dormancy, in which cells are metabolically inactive and do not grow. However, recent studies suggest that some types of persisters are not necessarily dormant, triggering a debate about the mechanisms of persisters. Here, we combined single-cell Raman imaging spectroscopy and D2O labeling to analyze metabolic activities of bacterial persister cells. Metabolically active cells uptake deuterium through metabolic processes and give distinct C-D Raman bands, which are direct indicators of metabolic activity. Using this imaging method, we characterized the metabolic activity of Mycobacterium smegmatis, a fast-growing model for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We found that persister cells of M. smegmatis show certain metabolic activity and active cell growth in the presence of the antibiotic rifampicin. Interestingly, persistence is not correlated with growth rate prior to antibiotic exposure. These results show that dormancy is not responsible for the persistence of M. smegmatis cells against rifampicin, suggesting that the mechanism of persistence largely varies depending on the type of antibiotics and bacteria. Our results successfully demonstrate the potential of our perfusion-based single-cell D2O Raman imaging system for the analysis of the metabolic activity and growth of bacterial persister cells.

Defining threshold values in microscopic examination and qPCR for optimal performance of line probe assays for resistance detection in Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex.

Line probe assays enable rapid detection of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis directly from clinical specimens. This study shows that defining threshold values in microscopic examination or PCR detection of M. tuberculosis optimizes line probe assay efficiency, thereby avoiding costs and loss of time due to unnecessary molecular testing.

Large-scale chemical-genetics yields new M. tuberculosis inhibitor classes.

New antibiotics are needed to combat rising levels of resistance, with new Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) drugs having the highest priority. However, conventional whole-cell and biochemical antibiotic screens have failed. Here we develop a strategy termed PROSPECT (primary screening of strains to prioritize expanded chemistry and targets), in which we screen compounds against pools of strains depleted of essential bacterial targets. We engineered strains that target 474 essential Mtb genes and screened pools of 100-150 strains against activity-enriched and unbiased compound libraries, probing more than 8.5 million chemical-genetic interactions. Primary screens identified over tenfold more hits than screening wild-type Mtb alone, with chemical-genetic interactions providing immediate, direct target insights. We identified over 40 compounds that target DNA gyrase, the cell wall, tryptophan, folate biosynthesis and RNA polymerase, as well as inhibitors that target EfpA. Chemical optimization yielded EfpA inhibitors with potent wild-type activity, thus demonstrating the ability of PROSPECT to yield inhibitors against targets that would have eluded conventional drug discovery.

An automated smear microscopy system to diagnose tuberculosis in a high-burden setting.

OBJECTIVES: TB-EASM (Howsome, Shanghai, China), an automated system combining smear preparation, staining and microscopy in a single platform, was evaluated for tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis in a high disease-burden setting. METHODS: Sputum samples from individuals with pulmonary TB were processed in parallel using conventional manual smear microscopy (MS), TB-EASM, liquid culture and GeneXpert. Method sensitivity and specificity were compared with Mycobacterium tuberculosis detection by mycobacteria growth indicator tube (MGIT) and/or GeneXpert MTB/RIF. RESULTS: Of 524 samples, 496 met evaluation criteria for study inclusion. The proportion of M. tuberculosis detected by TB-EASM was 28.2% (150/496), significantly higher than for MS (111/496, 21.2%, p 0.01) and comparable to the rate for MGIT (163/496, 32.9%, p > 0.05). For 190 M. tuberculosis-positive cases identified using MGIT and/or GeneXpert MTB/RIF, the reference standard detection methods, TB-EASM detected 140 positive cases, for an overall sensitivity rate of 73.7% (140/190, 95% CI 67.4-79.9), which was significantly higher than for MS (105/190, 55.3%, 95% CI 48.2-62.3, p < 0.01). Specificities were 96.7% (296/306, 95% CI 94.7-98.7) for TB-EASM and 98.0% (300/306, 95% CI 96.5-99.6) for MS. CONCLUSION: TB-EASM outperformed conventional MS for M. tuberculosis detection in sputum specimens.

Comparative proteomics analysis between biofilm and planktonic cells of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis is highly persistent and displays phenotypic resistance to high concentrations of antimicrobials. Recent reports exhibited that Mycobacterium tuberculosis biofilm was implicated to its pathogenicity and drug resistance. In this study, there were 47 kinds of differential proteins in the biofilm of M. tuberculosis H37Rv cells compared with the planktonic bacteria, and 37 proteins were nonredundant and identified by proteomics approach, such as 2DE and LC-MS/MS. Moreover, six kinds of proteins were identified as HspX, which were conservative and highly expressed in biofilm. Note that 47 differential proteins were divided into seven categories, such as cell wall and cell processes, conserved hypotheticals, intermediary metabolism and respiration, and so on by TUBERCULIST. The Gene Ontology classification results showed that the largest protein group involved in metabolism, binding proteins, and catalytic function accounts for 30% and 57% of all identified proteins, respectively. Moreover, the protein interaction network analyzed by STRING showed that the minority proteins such as RpoA, SucC, Cbs, Tuf, DnaK, and GroeL in the interaction network have high network connectivity. These results implied that the proteins involved in metabolic process and catalytic function and the minority proteins mentioned above may play an important role in M. tuberculosis biofilm formation. To our knowledge, this is the first report about differential proteins between biofilm and planktonic M. tuberculosis, which provided the potential antigens for vaccines and target proteins for anti-mycobacterial drugs.