PUBLICATION

A fluorescence-based reporter for monitoring expression of mycobacterial cytochrome bd in response to antibacterials and during infection

Authors
Boot, M., Jim, K.K., Liu, T., Commandeur, S., Lu, P., Verboom, T., Lill, H., Bitter, W., Bald, D.
ID
ZDB-PUB-170908-8
Date
2017
Source
Scientific Reports   7: 10665 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Bitter, Wilbert
Keywords
Antibiotics, Bacteriology
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology*
  • Cytochromes/genetics*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial*
  • Genes, Reporter*
  • Macrophages
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Mycobacterium/drug effects*
  • Mycobacterium/genetics*
  • Mycobacterium Infections/microbiology*
  • Plasmids/genetics
  • Zebrafish
PubMed
28878275 Full text @ Sci. Rep.
Abstract
Cytochrome bd is a component of the oxidative phosphorylation pathway in many Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Next to its role as a terminal oxidase in the respiratory chain this enzyme plays an important role as a survival factor in the bacterial stress response. In Mycobacterium tuberculosis and related mycobacterial strains, cytochrome bd is an important component of the defense system against antibacterial drugs. In this report we describe and evaluate an mCherry-based fluorescent reporter for detection of cytochrome bd expression in Mycobacterium marinum. Cytochrome bd was induced by mycolic acid biosynthesis inhibitors such as isoniazid and most prominently by drugs targeting oxidative phosphorylation. We observed no induction by inhibitors of protein-, DNA- or RNA-synthesis. The constructed expression reporter was suitable for monitoring mycobacterial cytochrome bd expression during mouse macrophage infection and in a zebrafish embryo infection model when using Mycobacterium marinum. Interestingly, in both these infection models cytochrome bd levels were considerably higher than during in vitro culturing of M. marinum. The expression reporter described here can be a valuable tool for elucidating the role of cytochrome bd as a survival factor.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping