Antimicrobial treatment improves mycobacterial survival in nonpermissive growth conditions

Obolbek Turapov, Simon J Waddell, Bernard Burke, Sarah Glenn, Asel A Sarybaeva, Griselda Tudo, Gilles Labesse, Danielle I Young, Michael Young, Peter W Andrew, Philip D Butcher, Martin Cohen-Gonsaud, Galina V Mukamolova

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    12 Citations (Scopus)
    61 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Antimicrobials targeting cell wall biosynthesis are generally considered inactive against nonreplicating bacteria. Paradoxically, we found that under nonpermissive growth conditions, exposure of Mycobacterium bovis BCG bacilli to such antimicrobials enhanced their survival. We identified a transcriptional regulator, RaaS (for regulator of antimicrobial-assisted survival), encoded by bcg1279 (rv1219c) as being responsible for the observed phenomenon. Induction of this transcriptional regulator resulted in reduced expression of specific ATP-dependent efflux pumps and promoted long-term survival of mycobacteria, while its deletion accelerated bacterial death under nonpermissive growth conditions in vitro and during macrophage or mouse infection. These findings have implications for the design of antimicrobial drug combination therapies for persistent infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)2798-2806
    Number of pages9
    JournalAntimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
    Volume58
    Issue number5
    Early online date10 Apr 2014
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2014

    Keywords

    • Animals
    • Anti-Infective Agents
    • Cell Line
    • Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay
    • Fluorescence Polarization
    • Humans
    • Mice
    • Mycobacterium bovis
    • Mycobacterium tuberculosis
    • Journal Article
    • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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