Iron is one of the crucial elements required for the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. However, excess free iron becomes toxic for the cells because it catalyzes the production of reactive oxygen radicals, leading to oxidative damage. Hence, it is essential for the pathogen to have the ability to store intracellular iron in an iron-rich environment and utilize it under iron depletion. M. tuberculosis has two iron storage proteins, namely BfrA (Rv1876; a bacterioferritin) and BfrB (Rv3841; a ferritin-like protein). However, the demonstration of biological significance requires the disruption of relevant genes and the evaluation of the resulting mutant for its ability to survive in the host and cause disease. In this study, we have disrupted bfrA and bfrB of M. tuberculosis and demonstrated that these genes are crucial for the storage and supply of iron for the growth of bacteria and to withstand oxidative stress in vitro. In addition, the bfrA bfrB double mutant (H37Rv ⌬bfrA ⌬bfrB) exhibited a marked reduction in its ability to survive inside human macrophages. Guinea pigs infected with H37Rv ⌬bfrA ⌬bfrB exhibited a marked diminution in the dissemination of the bacilli to spleen compared to that of the parental strain. Moreover, guinea pigs infected with H37Rv ⌬bfrA ⌬bfrB exhibited significantly reduced pathological damage in spleen and lungs compared to that of animals infected with the parental strain. Our study clearly demonstrates the importance of these iron storage proteins in the survival and pathogenesis of M. tuberculosis in the host and establishes them as attractive targets for the development of new inhibitors against mycobacterial infections.

This study highlights the importance of mycobactins in the growth and virulence of M. tuberculosis and establishes the enzymes of mycobactin biosynthesis as novel targets for the development of therapeutic interventions against tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) is responsible for nearly 1.4 million deaths globally every year and continues to remain a serious threat to human health. The problem is further complicated by the growing incidence of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), emphasizing the need for the development of new drugs against this disease. Phagosomal maturation arrest is an important strategy employed by Mycobacterium tuberculosis to evade the host immune system. Secretory acid phosphatase (SapM) of M.tuberculosis is known to dephosphorylate phosphotidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI3P) present on phagosomes. However, there have been divergent reports on the involvement of SapM in phagosomal maturation arrest in mycobacteria. This study was aimed at reascertaining the involvement of SapM in phagosomal maturation arrest in M.tuberculosis. Further, for the first time, we have also studied whether SapM is essential for the pathogenesis of M.tuberculosis. By deleting the sapM gene of M.tuberculosis, we demonstrate that MtbΔsapM is defective in the arrest of phagosomal maturation as well as for growth in human THP-1 macrophages. We further show that MtbΔsapM is severely attenuated for growth in the lungs and spleen of guinea pigs and has a significantly reduced ability to cause pathological damage in the host when compared with the parental strain. Also, the guinea pigs infected with MtbΔsapM exhibited a significantly enhanced survival when compared with M.tuberculosis infected animals. The importance of SapM in phagosomal maturation arrest as well as in the pathogenesis of M.tuberculosis establishes it as an attractive target for the development of new therapeutic molecules against tuberculosis.

During the establishment of an infection, bacterial pathogens encounter oxidative stress resulting in the production of DNA lesions. Majority of these lesions are repaired by base excision repair (BER) pathway. Amongst these, abasic sites are the most frequent lesions in DNA. Class II apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) endonucleases play a major role in BER of damaged DNA comprising of abasic sites. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a deadly pathogen, resides in the human macrophages and is continually subjected to oxidative assaults. We have characterized for the first time two AP endonucleases namely Endonuclease IV (End) and Exonuclease III (XthA) that perform distinct functions in M.tuberculosis. We demonstrate that M.tuberculosis End is a typical AP endonuclease while XthA is predominantly a 3′→5′ exonuclease. The AP endonuclease activity of End and XthA was stimulated by Mg2+ and Ca2+ and displayed a preferential recognition for abasic site paired opposite to a cytosine residue in DNA. Moreover, End exhibited metal ion independent 3′→5′ exonuclease activity while in the case of XthA this activity was metal ion dependent. We demonstrate that End is not only a more efficient AP endonuclease than XthA but it also represents the major AP endonuclease activity in M.tuberculosis and plays a crucial role in defense against oxidative stress.

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