This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ewann, F.
Right arrow Articles by Supply, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ewann, F.
Right arrow Articles by Supply, P.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, May 2002, p. 2256-2263, Vol. 70, No. 5
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.5.2256-2263.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Transient Requirement of the PrrA-PrrB Two-Component System for Early Intracellular Multiplication of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Fanny Ewann,1 Mary Jackson,2 Kevin Pethe,1 Andrea Cooper,3 Nathalie Mielcarek,1 Danielle Ensergueix,2 Brigitte Gicquel,2 Camille Locht,1* and Philip Supply1

Laboratoire des Mécanismes Moléculaires de la Pathogenèse Bactérienne, INSERM U447, Institut Pasteur de Lille, F-59019 Lille Cedex,1 Unité de Génetique Mycobactérienne, Institut Pasteur, F-75724 Paris Cedex, France,2 Department of Microbiology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 805233

Received 10 August 2001/ Returned for modification 8 October 2001/ Accepted 28 January 2002

Adaptive regulation of gene expression in response to environmental changes is a general property of bacterial pathogens. By screening an ordered transposon mutagenesis library of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, we have identified three mutants containing a transposon in the coding sequence or in the 5' regions of genes coding for two-component signal transduction systems (trcS, regX3, prrA). The intracellular multiplication capacity of the three mutants was investigated in mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages. Only the prrA mutant showed a defect in intracellular growth during the early phase of infection, and this defect was fully reverted when the mutant was complemented with prrA-prrB wild-type copies. The mutant phenotype was transient, as after 1 week this strain recovered full growth capacity to reach levels similar to that of the wild type at day 9. Moreover, a transient induction of prrA promoter activity was observed during the initial phase of macrophage infection, as shown by a prrA promoter-gfp fusion in M. bovis BCG infecting the mouse macrophages. The concordant transience of the prrA mutant phenotype and prrA promoter activity indicates that the PrrA-PrrB two-component system is involved in the environmental adaptation of M. tuberculosis, specifically in an early phase of the intracellular growth, and that, similar to other facultative intracellular parasites, M. tuberculosis can use genes temporarily required at different stages in the course of macrophage infection.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratoire des Mécanismes Moléculaires de la Pathogenèse Bactérienne, INSERM U447, Institut Pasteur de Lille, 1, rue du Prof. Calmette, F-59019 Lille Cedex, France. Phone: (33) 320.87.11.51. Fax: (33) 320.87.11.58. E-mail: camille.locht{at}pasteur-lille.fr.

Editor: R. N. Moore


Infection and Immunity, May 2002, p. 2256-2263, Vol. 70, No. 5
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.5.2256-2263.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.




This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Awasthy, D., Gaonkar, S., Shandil, R. K., Yadav, R., Bharath, S., Marcel, N., Subbulakshmi, V., Sharma, U. (2009). Inactivation of the ilvB1 gene in Mycobacterium tuberculosis leads to branched-chain amino acid auxotrophy and attenuation of virulence in mice. Microbiology 155: 2978-2987 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Shrivastava, R., Ghosh, A. K., Das, A. K. (2009). Intra- and intermolecular domain interactions among novel two-component system proteins coded by Rv0600c, Rv0601c and Rv0602c of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Microbiology 155: 772-779 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hett, E. C., Rubin, E. J. (2008). Bacterial Growth and Cell Division: a Mycobacterial Perspective. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 72: 126-156 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Glover, R. T., Kriakov, J., Garforth, S. J., Baughn, A. D., Jacobs, W. R. Jr. (2007). The Two-Component Regulatory System senX3-regX3 Regulates Phosphate-Dependent Gene Expression in Mycobacterium smegmatis. J. Bacteriol. 189: 5495-5503 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Festa, R. A., Pearce, M. J., Darwin, K. H. (2007). Characterization of the Proteasome Accessory Factor (paf) Operon in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. J. Bacteriol. 189: 3044-3050 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Nowak, E., Panjikar, S., Konarev, P., Svergun, D. I., Tucker, P. A. (2006). The Structural Basis of Signal Transduction for the Response Regulator PrrA from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. J. Biol. Chem. 281: 9659-9666 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Saini, D. K., Tyagi, J. S. (2005). High-Throughput Microplate Phosphorylation Assays Based on DevR-DevS/Rv2027c 2-Component Signal Transduction Pathway to Screen for Novel Antitubercular Compounds. J Biomol Screen 10: 215-224 [Abstract]  
  • Manganelli, R., Proveddi, R., Rodrigue, S., Beaucher, J., Gaudreau, L., Smith, I. (2004). {sigma} Factors and Global Gene Regulation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. J. Bacteriol. 186: 895-902 [Full Text]  
  • Ewann, F., Locht, C., Supply, P. (2004). Intracellular autoregulation of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis PrrA response regulator. Microbiology 150: 241-246 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Zahrt, T. C., Wozniak, C., Jones, D., Trevett, A. (2003). Functional Analysis of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis MprAB Two-Component Signal Transduction System. Infect. Immun. 71: 6962-6970 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Recchi, C., Sclavi, B., Rauzier, J., Gicquel, B., Reyrat, J.-M. (2003). Mycobacterium tuberculosis Rv1395 Is a Class III Transcriptional Regulator of the AraC Family Involved in Cytochrome P450 Regulation. J. Biol. Chem. 278: 33763-33773 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Smith, I. (2003). Mycobacterium tuberculosis Pathogenesis and Molecular Determinants of Virulence. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 16: 463-496 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Parish, T., Smith, D. A., Roberts, G., Betts, J., Stoker, N. G. (2003). The senX3-regX3 two-component regulatory system of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is required for virulence. Microbiology 149: 1423-1435 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Parish, T., Smith, D. A., Kendall, S., Casali, N., Bancroft, G. J., Stoker, N. G. (2003). Deletion of Two-Component Regulatory Systems Increases the Virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Infect. Immun. 71: 1134-1140 [Abstract] [Full Text]