Triacylglycerols: Fuelling the Hibernating Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) has the remarkable ability to persist with a modified metabolic status and phenotypic drug tolerance for long periods in the host without producing symptoms of active tuberculosis. These persisters may reactivate to cause active disease when the immune system becomes...
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doaj-9db644ab58784b2898292e2c305ad9002020-11-25T00:35:08ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology2235-29882019-01-01810.3389/fcimb.2018.00450423672Triacylglycerols: Fuelling the Hibernating Mycobacterium tuberculosisRahul Kumar MauryaSuman BhartiManju Y. KrishnanMycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) has the remarkable ability to persist with a modified metabolic status and phenotypic drug tolerance for long periods in the host without producing symptoms of active tuberculosis. These persisters may reactivate to cause active disease when the immune system becomes disrupted or compromised. Thus, the infected hosts with the persisters serve as natural reservoir of the deadly pathogen. Understanding the host and bacterial factors contributing to Mtb persistence is important to devise strategies to tackle the Mtb persisters. Host lipids act as the major source of carbon and energy for Mtb. Fatty acids derived from the host cells are converted to triacylglycerols (triglycerides or TAG) and stored in the bacterial cytoplasm. TAG serves as a dependable, long-term energy source of lesser molecular mass than other storage molecules like glycogen. TAG are found in substantial amounts in the mycobacterial cell wall. This review discusses the production, accumulation and possible roles of TAG in mycobacteria, pointing out the aspects that remain to be explored. Finally, the essentiality of TAG synthesis for Mtb is discussed with implications for identification of intervention strategies.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fcimb.2018.00450/fullMycobacteriumpersistencelipid inclusionstriacylglycerollipid bodies |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Rahul Kumar Maurya Suman Bharti Manju Y. Krishnan |
spellingShingle |
Rahul Kumar Maurya Suman Bharti Manju Y. Krishnan Triacylglycerols: Fuelling the Hibernating Mycobacterium tuberculosis Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology Mycobacterium persistence lipid inclusions triacylglycerol lipid bodies |
author_facet |
Rahul Kumar Maurya Suman Bharti Manju Y. Krishnan |
author_sort |
Rahul Kumar Maurya |
title |
Triacylglycerols: Fuelling the Hibernating Mycobacterium tuberculosis |
title_short |
Triacylglycerols: Fuelling the Hibernating Mycobacterium tuberculosis |
title_full |
Triacylglycerols: Fuelling the Hibernating Mycobacterium tuberculosis |
title_fullStr |
Triacylglycerols: Fuelling the Hibernating Mycobacterium tuberculosis |
title_full_unstemmed |
Triacylglycerols: Fuelling the Hibernating Mycobacterium tuberculosis |
title_sort |
triacylglycerols: fuelling the hibernating mycobacterium tuberculosis |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology |
issn |
2235-2988 |
publishDate |
2019-01-01 |
description |
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) has the remarkable ability to persist with a modified metabolic status and phenotypic drug tolerance for long periods in the host without producing symptoms of active tuberculosis. These persisters may reactivate to cause active disease when the immune system becomes disrupted or compromised. Thus, the infected hosts with the persisters serve as natural reservoir of the deadly pathogen. Understanding the host and bacterial factors contributing to Mtb persistence is important to devise strategies to tackle the Mtb persisters. Host lipids act as the major source of carbon and energy for Mtb. Fatty acids derived from the host cells are converted to triacylglycerols (triglycerides or TAG) and stored in the bacterial cytoplasm. TAG serves as a dependable, long-term energy source of lesser molecular mass than other storage molecules like glycogen. TAG are found in substantial amounts in the mycobacterial cell wall. This review discusses the production, accumulation and possible roles of TAG in mycobacteria, pointing out the aspects that remain to be explored. Finally, the essentiality of TAG synthesis for Mtb is discussed with implications for identification of intervention strategies. |
topic |
Mycobacterium persistence lipid inclusions triacylglycerol lipid bodies |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fcimb.2018.00450/full |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT rahulkumarmaurya triacylglycerolsfuellingthehibernatingmycobacteriumtuberculosis AT sumanbharti triacylglycerolsfuellingthehibernatingmycobacteriumtuberculosis AT manjuykrishnan triacylglycerolsfuellingthehibernatingmycobacteriumtuberculosis |
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1725310182841384960 |