Uridine diphosphogalactofuranose (UDP-Galf) is the precursor of the D-galactofuranose sugar found in bacterial and parasitic cell walls, including those of many pathogens. UDP-Galf is made from UDP-galactopyranose by the enzyme UDP-galactopyranose mutase. The enzyme requires the reduced FADH − co-factor for activity. The structure of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis mutase with FAD has been determined to 2.25Å. The structures of Klebsiella pneumoniae mutase with FAD and with FADH − bound have been determined to 2.2Å and 2.35Å resolutions respectively. This is the first report of the FADH − containing structure. Two flavin dependent mechanisms for the enzyme have been proposed, one which involves a covalent adduct being formed at the flavin and the other based on electron transfer. Using our structural data, we have examined the two mechanisms. The electron transfer mechanism is consistent with the structural data, not surprisingly since it makes fewer demands on the precise positioning of atoms. A model based on a covalent adduct FAD requires repositioning of the enzyme active site and would appear to require that the isoalloxazine ring of FADH − to buckle in a particular way. However, the FADH − structure reveals that the isoalloxazine ring buckles in the opposite sense, this apparently requires the covalent adduct to trigger profound conformational changes in the protein or to buckle the FADH − opposite to that seen in the apo structure.

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Bovine tuberculosis is an important animal and zoonotic disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis. The innate immune response is the first line of defense against pathogens and is also crucial for the development of an efficient adaptive immune response. In this study we used an in vitro co-culture model of antigen presenting cells (APC) and autologous lymphocytes derived from peripheral blood mononuclear cells to identify the cell populations and immune mediators that participate in the development of an efficient innate response capable of controlling the intracellular replication of M. bovis. After M. bovis infection, bovine immune cell cultures displayed upregulated levels of iNOS, IL-22 and IFN-γ and the induction of the innate immune response was dependent on the presence of differentiated APC. Among the analyzed M. bovis isolates, only a live virulent M. bovis isolate induced an efficient innate immune response, which was increased upon stimulation of cell co-cultures with the M. bovis culture supernatant. Moreover, we demonstrated that an allelic variation of the early secreted protein ESAT-6 (ESAT6 T63A) expressed in the virulent strain is involved in this increased innate immune response. These results highlight the relevance of the compounds secreted by live M. bovis as well as the variability among the assessed M. bovis strains to induce an efficient innate immune response.

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