Mycobacterium tuberculosis Ser/Thr protein kinase B mediates an oxygen-dependent replication switch

Journal Article · Tue Jan 07 04:00:00 EST 2014 · PLoS Biology, 12(1):Article No. e1001746

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001746· OSTI ID:1115803

Ortega, Corrie; Liao, Reiling; Anderson, Lindsey N.; Rustad, Tige; Ollodart, Anja R.; Wright, Aaron T.; Sherman, David R.; Grundner, Christoph

In the majority of cases, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infections are clinically latent, characterized by little or no bacterial replication and drug tolerance. Low oxygen tension is a major host factor inducing bacteriostasis, but the molecular mechanisms driving oxygen-dependent replication are poorly understood. Mtb encodes eleven serine/threonine protein kinases, a family of signaling molecules known to regulate similar replicative adaptations in other bacteria. Here, we tested the role of serine/threonine phosphorylation in the Mtb response to altered oxygen status, using an in vitro model of latency (hypoxia) and reactivation (reaeration). Broad kinase inhibition compromised survival of Mtb in hypoxia. Activity-based protein profiling and genetic mutation identified PknB as the kinase critical for surviving hypoxia. Mtb replication was highly sensitive to changes in PknB levels in aerated culture, and even more so in hypoxia. A mutant overexpressing PknB specifically in hypoxia showed a 10-fold loss in viability in low oxygen conditions. In contrast, chemically reducing PknB activity during hypoxia specifically compromised resumption of growth during reaeration. These data support a model in which PknB activity is reduced to achieve bacteriostasis, and elevated when replication resumes. Together, these data show that phosphosignaling controls replicative transitions associated with latency and reactivation, that PknB is a major regulator of these transitions, and that PknB could provide a highly vulnerable therapeutic target at every step of the Mtb life cycle - active disease, latency, and reactivation.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US), Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1115803
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-94282; 40072; 47292; 400412000
• Journal Information: PLoS Biology, 12(1):Article No. e1001746, Journal Name: PLoS Biology, 12(1):Article No. e1001746
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory