RESUMO
The mutations of pncA gene encoding pyrazinamidase/PZase in Mycobacterium tuberculosis are often associated with pyrazinamide/PZA resistance. The H and R1 isolates showed significant phenotypic differences to PZA. The H isolate was PZA sensitive, but R1 was PZA resistant up to 100 ug/ml. The paper reports the pncA profile for both isolates and the activity of their protein expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). The 0.6 kb of each pncA genes have been subcloned successfully into the 5.4 kb pET30a vector and formed the pET30a-pncA recombinant with a size of 6.0 kb. The pncAR1 profile exhibited base mutations, but not for pncAH against to pncA from the PZA-sensitive M. tuberculosis H37RV published in Genbank ID: 888260. Three mutations were found in pncAR1, ie T41C, G419A, and A535G that subsequently changed amino acids of Cys14Arg, Arg140His and Ser179Gly in its protein level. The mutant PZase R1 that expressed as a 21 kDa protein in E. coli Bl21(DE3) lost 32% of its performance in activating PZA drug to pyrazinoic acid/POA compared to the wild-type PZase H. The mutation in the pncAR1 gene that followed by the decreasing of its PZase activity underlies the emergence of pyrazinamide resistance in the clinical isolate. Structural studies for the R1 mutant PZase protein should be further developed to reveal more precise drug resistance mechanisms and design more effective TB drugs.