期刊
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
卷 10, 期 4, 页码 -出版社
AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY
DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.01288-22
关键词
alpha '-mycolic acid biosynthesis; Mycobacterium smegmatis; Mycobacterium abscessus; antibiotic susceptibility; drug development
类别
资金
- ANPCyT (Agencia Nacional de Promocion Cientifica y Tecnologica), Argentina [PICT 1063]
- CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnologia), Argentina
Mycolic acids, unique long-chain fatty acids produced by Mycobacterium, play vital roles in pathogenesis and are potential drug targets. This study characterized a mutant of Mycobacterium smegmatis deficient in alpha'-mycolic acids and identified the enzyme responsible for their synthesis. This finding sheds light on the growth and development of Mycobacterium abscessus and offers insights for drug development.
Mycolic acids, a hallmark of the genus Mycobacterium, are unique branched long-chain fatty acids produced by a complex biosynthetic pathway. Due to their essentiality and involvement in various aspects of mycobacterial pathogenesis, the synthesis of mycolic acids-and the identification of the enzymes involved-is a valuable target for drug development. Although most of the core pathway is comparable between species, subtle structure differences lead to different structures delineating the mycolic acid repertoire of tuberculous and some nontuberculous mycobacteria. We here report the characterization of an alpha'-mycolic acid-deficient Mycobacterium smegmatis mutant obtained by chemical mutagenesis. Whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatic analysis identified a premature stop codon in MSMEG_4301, encoding an acyl-CoA synthetase. Orthologs of MSMEG_4301 are present in all mycobacterial species containing alpha'-mycolic acids. Deletion of the Mycobacterium abscessus ortholog MAB_1915 abrogated synthesis of alpha'-mycolic acids; likewise, deletion of MSMEG_4301 in an otherwise wild-type M. smegmatis background also caused loss of these short mycolates. IMPORTANCE Mycobacterium abscessus is a nontuberculous mycobacterium responsible for an increasing number of hard-to-treat infections due to the impervious nature of its cell envelope, a natural barrier to several antibiotics. Mycolic acids are key components of that envelope; thus, their synthesis is a valuable target for drug development. Our results identify the first enzyme involved in alpha'-mycolic acids, a short-chain member of mycolic acids, loss of which greatly affects growth of this opportunistic pathogen.
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