PknE, a serine/threonine protein kinase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis initiates survival crosstalk that also impacts HIV coinfection.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 24421891.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0083541 and PMC identifier 3885422.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Serine threonine protein kinases (STPK) play a major role in the pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Here, we examined the role of STPK pknE, using a deletion mutant ΔpknE in the modulation of intracellular signaling events that favor M. tuberculosis survival. Phosphorylation kinetics of MAPK (p38MAPK, Erk½ and SAPK/JNK) was defective in ΔpknE compared to wild-type infected macrophages. This defective signaling dramatically delayed and reduced the phosphorylation kinetics of transcription factors ATF-2 and c-JUN in ΔpknE infected macrophages. MAPK inhibitors instead of reducing the phosphorylation in ΔpknE infected macrophages, revealed crosstalks with Erk½ signaling influenced by SAPK/JNK and p38 pathways independently. Modulations in intra cellular signaling altered the expression of coreceptors CCR5 and CXCR4 in ΔpknE infected macrophages. In conclusion, pknE plays a role in MAPK crosstalks that enables intracellular survival of M. tuberculosis. This survival strategy also impacts HIV/TB coinfection.
Medical subject headings
- Coinfection
- HIV Infections
- Microbial Viability
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis
- Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases
- Tuberculosis