Guardians of the mycobacterial genome: A review on DNA repair systems in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

The genomic integrity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is continuously threatened by the harsh survival conditions inside host macrophages, due to immune and antibiotic stresses. Faithful genome maintenance and repair must be accomplished under stress for the bacillus to survive in the host, necessitating a robust DNA repair system. The importance of DNA repair systems in pathogenesis is well established. Previous examination of the M. tuberculosis genome revealed homologues of almost all the major DNA repair systems, i.e. nucleotide excision repair (NER), base excision repair (BER), homologous recombination (HR) and non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). However, recent developments in the field have pointed to the presence of novel proteins and pathways in mycobacteria. Homologues of archeal mismatch repair proteins were recently reported in mycobacteria, a pathway previously thought to be absent. RecBCD, the major nuclease-helicase enzymes involved in HR in E. coli, were implicated in the single-strand annealing (SSA) pathway. Novel roles of archeo-eukaryotic primase (AEP) polymerases, previously thought to be exclusive to NHEJ, have been reported in BER. Many new proteins with a probable role in DNA repair have also been discovered. It is now realized that the DNA repair systems in M. tuberculosis are highly evolved and have redundant backup mechanisms to mend the damage. This review is an attempt to summarize our current understanding of the DNA repair systems in M. tuberculosis.