Resuscitation of dormant Mycobacterium tuberculosis by phospholipids or specific peptides.
The presence of dormant tubercle bacilli presents a major problem for tuberculosis treatment. The culture supernatant of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was previously shown to resuscitate dormant bacilli in vitro. Here we report identification of active components as phospholipids and a tuberculosis protein Rv1174c. Remarkably, dormant bacilli from a one year old culture which failed to form any colonies could be resuscitated with peptides derived from Rv1174c and formed 10(5-7) colonies/ml. This finding represents the first unambiguous demonstration of resuscitation of dormant tubercle bacilli in vitro and may have implication for the study of mycobacterial dormancy and the design of novel strategies for improved treatment of tuberculosis.
Zhang
Y
Y
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. yzhang@jhsph.edu
Yang
Y
Y
Woods
A
A
Cotter
R J
RJ
Sun
Z
Z
D000220:Adaptation, Biological / Q000187:drug effects*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000906:Antibodies / Q000494:pharmacology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000235:genetics; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
D000906:Antibodies; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D010743:Phospholipids; C430090:Rv1174c protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis