title: Potassium availability triggers Mycobacterium tuberculosis transition to, and resuscitation from, non-culturable (dormant) states.
abstract: Dormancy in non-sporulating bacteria is an interesting and underexplored phenomenon with significant medical implications. In particular, latent tuberculosis may result from the maintenance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli in non-replicating states in infected individuals. Uniquely, growth of M. tuberculosis in aerobic conditions in potassium-deficient media resulted in the generation of bacilli that were non-culturable (NC) on solid media but detectable in liquid media. These bacilli were morphologically distinct and tolerant to cell-wall-targeting antimicrobials. Bacterial counts on solid media quickly recovered after washing and incubating bacilli in fresh resuscitation media containing potassium. This resuscitation of growth occurred too quickly to be attributed to M. tuberculosis replication. Transcriptomic and proteomic profiling through adaptation to, and resuscitation from, this NC state revealed a switch to anaerobic respiration and a shift to lipid and amino acid metabolism. High concordance with mRNA signatures derived from M. tuberculosis infection models suggests that analogous NC mycobacterial phenotypes may exist during disease and may represent unrecognized populations in vivo. Resuscitation of NC bacilli in potassium-sufficient media was characterized by time-dependent activation of metabolic pathways in a programmed series of processes that probably transit bacilli through challenging microenvironments during infection.
authors.affiliation: Institution of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.N. Bach Institute of Biochemistry RAS, Moscow, Russia elenasalina@yandex.ru.
authors.forename: Elena G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Salina
authors.affiliation: Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
authors.forename: Simon J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Waddell
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Disease Immunology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Disease Immunology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Ida
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rosenkrands
authors.affiliation: Institute for Infection and Immunity, St George's University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Philip D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Butcher
authors.affiliation: Institution of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.N. Bach Institute of Biochemistry RAS, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Arseny S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Kaprelyants
mesh_terms: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D015180:Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000502:physiology*; D010641:Phenotype; D017853:Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor) / Q000737:chemistry; D011188:Potassium / Q000737:chemistry*; D020543:Proteome; D040901:Proteomics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D020543:Proteome; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D017853:Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor); C020670:glycerate kinase; D011188:Potassium
keywords: dormancy; latency; potassium; resuscitation; transcriptional profiling; tuberculosis