Year: 2001
Type: article
Abstract: It is estimated that nearly 2 billion people currently suffer from latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Although the key front-line antituberculosis drugs are effective in treating individuals with acute tuberculosis, these drugs are ineffective in eliminating M. tuberculosis during the persistent stages of latent infection. Consequently, therapeutics that directly target persistent bacilli are urgently needed. We have conducted a global analysis on a group of regulatory determinants that may play a role in M. tuberculosis virulence, and identified a two-component response regulator whose expression is required for entrance into and maintenance of persistent infection. Inactivation of this response regulator, Rv0981 (termed here mprA for mycobacterial persistence regulator), affected M. tuberculosis H37Rv growth in vivo in an organ- and infection stage-specific fashion. These results indicate that two-component systems are important for adaptation of the tubercle bacillus during stages of persistent infection.
Authors: Thomas C. Zahrt, Vojo Deretic
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: TWO-COMPONENT SYSTEMS OF MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS, G4121534548, Pattern Recognition Receptors and Autophagy in Mtb Control in AIDS, SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION AND CONTROL OF M TB VIRULENCE, Mechanism of M. tuberculosis Phagosome Maturation Arrest, Pattern Recognition Receptors and Autophagy in Mtb Control in AIDS
OpenAlex ID: W2090902470