Expression or possession of catalase gene does not alter the capacity of M. smegmatis to survive within human macrophages.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis genes are expressed and screened in Mycobacterium smegmatis as a host, hence their survival in human monocytes needs to be determined. Strains of Mycobacterium smegmatis with an inactive catalase-peroxidase gene (KatG), or into which the KatG gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis had been transfected, were used to study the influence of catalase on intracellular mycobacterial survival within human monocyte-derived macrophages. The five strains of Mycobacterium smegmatis were observed to grow at similar rates, irrespective of their catalase phenotype, within IFNgamma-treated or untreated human macrophage cultures, over a 3 day infection period. Moreover, there was no differential pattern of growth or inhibition among the strains of Mycobacterium smegmatis studied.
Department of Immunology, The University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK,Burn and Shock Trauma Institute, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, Illinois, USA.
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