Validação da enzima di-hidroneopterina aldolase (EC 4.1.2.25) de Mycobacterium tuberculosis como alvo molecular para o desenvolvimento de fármacos antituberculose

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) has become the leading global cause of death from infectious diseases. In 2015, according to WHO, 10.4 million new cases of tuberculosis worldwide have emerged. Currently the commonly used treatments are not effective against the forms of disease resistant to the most effective anti-TB drugs, and drugs with new mechanisms of action are needed. Mycobacterium tuberculosis dihydroneopterin aldolase (MtDHNA /FolB) is a folate enzyme encoded by the folB gene, which has important properties that make it a potential target for the synthesis of new antimicrobial agents. As a first step for target validation in the antimicrobial drug development pipeline, it is important to prove that the gene encoding a putative target is essential for pathogen’s viability. In this study, using site directed mutagenesis, biochemical analyzes and gene knockout experiments, we demonstrated that the folB gene is essential for the survival of Mtb, and furthermore we prove that this essentiality depends on the aldolase/epimerase activities of the MtFolB protein. The wild-type gene (wt) and the point mutants K99A and Y54F were cloned and expressed, and the corresponding recombinant proteins were purified and monitored for the activities of aldolase, epimerase and oxygenase using HPLC. In contrast to the wild-type MtFolB (wt) enzyme, both mutants had neither aldolase nor epimerase activities under the conditions tested. The Y54F mutant maintained oxygenase activity, whereas for the K99A mutant it was possible to detect oxygenase activity only in the presence of HP and GA as substrates. Knockout experiments showed that the folB gene is essential for the survival of Mtb under the conditions tested. However, unlike the wild-type copy, when the sequences encoding the K99A or Y54F mutants were used for complementation, no viable colonies were obtained, indicating that these point mutants could not rescue the cells after the folB knockout. These results indicate that aldolase and/or epimerase activities are crucial for the survival of Mtb. The construction of Mycobacterium tuberculosis folB-GFP fusion (Mtb) strains containing wild-type folB gene sequence or a deleted C-terminal mutant (folBΔC), devoid of the sequence presumably necessary for anchoring the enzyme within nanocage compartments, were performed and together with other cell biology methods described in this work will be used for a better understanding of MtDHNA/FolB cellular functions and for the validation of this enzyme as a therapeutic target.