Over-expression of Tgs1 in Mycobacterium marinum enhances virulence in adult zebrafish.

Over-expression of Tgs1 in Mycobacterium marinum enhances virulence in adult zebrafish. Int J Med Microbiol. 2019 Nov 06;:151378 Authors: Liu DQ, Zhang JL, Pan ZF, Mai JT, Mei HJ, Dai Y, Zhang L, Wang QZ Abstract Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), can persist in the host for decades without causing TB symptoms and can cause a latent infection, which is an intricate challenge of current TB control. The DosR regulon, which contains approximately 50 genes, is crucial in the non-replicating persistence of Mtb. tgs1 is one of the most powerfully induced genes in this regulon during Mtb non-replicating persistence. The gene encodes a triacyl glycerol synthase catalyzing synthesis of triacyl glycerol (TAG), which is proposed as an energy source during bacilli persistence. Here, western blotting showed that the Tgs1 protein was upregulated in clinical Mtb strains. To detect its physiological effects on mycobacterium, we constructed serial recombinant M. marinum including over-expressed Tgs1(Tgs1-H), reduced-expressed Tgs1(Tgs1-L), and wild type M. marinum strains as controls. Tgs1 over-expression did not influence M. marinum growth under aerobic shaking and in hypoxic cultures, while growth advantages were observed at an early stage under nutrient starvation. Transmission electron microscopy revealed more lipid droplets in Tgs1-H than the other two strains; the droplets filled the cytoplasm. Two-dimen...
Source: International Journal of Medical Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Int J Med Microbiol Source Type: research