LipG a bifunctional phospholipase/thioesterase involved in mycobacterial envelope remodeling.

Tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is currently one of the leading causes of death from an infectious agent. The main difficulties encountered in eradicating this bacteria are mainly related to (i) a very complex lipid composition of the bacillus cell wall, (ii) its ability to hide from the immune system inside the granulomas, and (iii) the increasing number of resistant strains. In this context, we were interested in the Rv0646c (lipGMTB ) gene located upstream to the mmaA cluster which is described as being crucial for the production of cell wall components and required for the bacilli adaptation and survival in mouse macrophages. Using biochemical experiments combined with the construction of deletion and overexpression mutant strains in Mycobacterium smegmatis, we found that LipGMTB is a cytoplasmic membrane-associated enzyme that displays both phospholipase and thioesterase activities. Overproduction of LipGMTB decreases the glycopeptidolipids (GPL) level concomitantly to an increase in phosphatidylinositol (PI) which is the precursor of the PI mannoside (PIM), an essential lipid component of the bacterial cell wall. Conversely, deletion of the lipGMS gene in M. smegmatis leads to an overproduction of GPL, and subsequently decreases the strain susceptibility to various antibiotics. All these findings demonstrate that LipG is involved in cell envelope biosynthesis/remodeling, and consequently this enzyme may thus play an important role in mycobacterial physiology.

Biochemical and Structural Characterization of TesA, a Major Thioesterase Required for Outer-Envelope Lipid Biosynthesis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

With the high number of patients infected by tuberculosis and the sharp increase of drug-resistant tuberculosis cases, developing new drugs to fight this disease has become increasingly urgent. In this context, analogs of the naturally occurring enolphosphates Cyclipostins and Cyclophostin (CyC analogs) offer new therapeutic opportunities. The CyC analogs display potent activity both in vitro and in infected macrophages against several pathogenic mycobacteria including Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium abscessus. Interestingly, these CyC inhibitors target several enzymes with active-site serine or cysteine residues that play key roles in mycobacterial lipid and cell wall metabolism. Among them, TesA, a putative thioesterase involved in the synthesis of phthiocerol dimycocerosates (PDIMs) and phenolic glycolipids (PGLs), has been identified. These two lipids (PDIM and PGL) are non-covalently bound to the outer cell wall in several human pathogenic mycobacteria and are important virulence factors. Herein, we used biochemical and structural approaches to validate TesA as an effective pharmacological target of the CyC analogs. We confirmed both thioesterase and esterase activities of TesA, and showed that the most active inhibitor CyC17 binds covalently to the catalytic Ser104 residue leading to a total loss of enzyme activity. These data were supported by the X-ray structure, obtained at a 2.6-Å resolution, of a complex in which CyC17 is bound to TesA. Our study provides evidence that CyC17 inhibits the activity of TesA, thus paving the way to a new strategy for impairing the PDIM and PGL biosynthesis, potentially decreasing the virulence of associated mycobacterial species.