Primm TP, Barry CE; American Society for Microbiology. General Meeting.
Abstr Gen Meet Am Soc Microbiol. 1999 May 30-Jun 3; 99: 649 (abstract no. U-82).
National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD.
The WHO estimates that fully one-third of the world's population is latently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb). Most cases of tuberculosis are reactivation of latent M.tb, not initial infection. Via a yet unknown mechanism, M.tb can survive decades in the host before reactivation. There is no therapy currently available to treat latent M.tb. The stringent response is a pleiotropic bacterial adaptive mechanism to nutrient depletion. The stringent response is important in stationary phase survival of bacteria. This response is mediated by two nucleotides, ppGpp (guanosine 3',5'-bis(diphosphate)) and pppGpp (guanosine 3'-diphosphate 5'-triphosphate), also called "alarmones." Three genes in gram negative bacteria mediate the stringent response, relA, spoT and gpp. M.tb has a single relA/spoT homolog, similar to the situation in gram-positive bacteria. We have demonstrated the production of (p)ppGpp in response to stationary phase, energy depletion, and nutrient starvation using cell labeling, the first report of such. Effect of overexpression and knockout of the M.tb relA/spoT homolog is currently being analyzed and the role of the stringent response in pathogenesis and latency explored.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Guanosine Pentaphosphate
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis
- NF-kappa B
- Transcription Factor RelA
Other ID:
UI: 102195821
From Meeting Abstracts