Identification of mycobacterial genes that alter growth and pathology in macrophages and in mice

Mycobacterium tuberculosis lives intracellularly, and many facets of its interactions with host cells are not well understood. We screened an M. tuberculosis transposon library for mutants exhibiting reduced ability to kill eukaryotic cells. Four of the mutants identified had insertions in 3 adjacent genes: single insertions in each of 2 acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenases (fadE) plus 2 unique insertions in a cytochrome P450 homolog. A mutant in which these genes were replaced by allelic exchange was powerfully attenuated in our macrophage viability assay, and there was a striking defect in its ability to grow intracellularly. Interestingly, the difference between wild-type and mutant growth was minimized in activated macrophages. Aerosol infection of mice revealed a lag in growth, delayed dissemination to the spleen, and reduced lung pathology but no difference in persistence. Thus, these genes may be particularly important for events early during infection.