Mycobacterium smegmatis displays the Mycobacterium tuberculosis virulence-related neutral red character when expressing the Rv0577 gene.
Neutral red staining is a cytochemical reaction that has been found to be related to Mycobacterium tuberculosis virulence and, therefore, the component involved in it is thought to be a virulence factor. To study the molecular basis of this reaction we constructed an M. tuberculosis cosmid library in Mycobacterium smegmatis and selected recombinant neutral red positive clones. Heterologous complementation identified Rv0577 as the gene responsible for this trait and we have also shown that it is expressed as a single polycistronic unit together with Rv0576 which could also be involved in the neutral red staining.
Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain.
Núria
N
Andreu
Carlos Y
CY
Soto
Ignasi
I
Roca
Carlos
C
Martín
Isidre
I
Gibert
D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004396:Coloring Agents; D003360:Cosmids; D003470:Culture Media; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005820:Genetic Testing / Q000379:methods*; D020102:Mycobacterium smegmatis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D009499:Neutral Red; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014774:Virulence
D004396:Coloring Agents; D003470:Culture Media; D009499:Neutral Red