Biology subjects

Becker, S. H.

Publications and source records attributed to Becker, S. H..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

CD4+ T cells recruit, then engage macrophages in cognate interactions to clear Mycobacterium tuberculosis from the lungs.

IFN-{gamma}-producing CD4+ T cells are required for protection against lethal Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infections. However, the ability of CD4+ T cells to suppress Mtb growth cannot be fully explained by IFN-{gamma} or other known T cell products. In this study, we show that CD4+ T cell-derived IFN-{gamma} promoted the recruitment of monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) to the lungs of Mtb-infected mice. Although the recruited MDMs became quickly and preferentially infected with Mtb, CD4+ T cells rapidly disinfected the MDMs. Clearance of Mtb from MDMs was not explained by IFN-{gamma}, but rather by MHCII-mediated cognate interactions with CD4+ T cells. These interactions promoted MDM expression of glycolysis genes essential for Mtb control. Thus, by recruiting MDMs, CD4+ T cells initiate a cycle of bacterial phagocytosis, Mtb antigen presentation and disinfection in an attempt to clear the bacteria from the lungs.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2020

Mycobacterium tuberculosis Rv0991c is a redox-regulated molecular chaperone

The bacterial pathogen Mycobacterium (M.) tuberculosis is the leading cause of death by an infectious disease among humans. Here, we describe a previously uncharacterized M. tuberculosis protein, Rv0991c, as a molecular chaperone that is activated by oxidation. Rv0991c has homologues in most bacterial lineages and appears to function analogously to the well-characterized Escherichia coli redox-regulated chaperone Hsp33, despite a dissimilar protein sequence. Rv0991c is transcriptionally co-regulated with hsp60 and hsp70 chaperone genes in M. tuberculosis, suggesting that Rv0991c functions with these chaperones in maintaining protein quality control. Supporting this hypothesis, we found that, like oxidized Hsp33, oxidized Rv0991c prevents the aggregation of a model unfolded protein in vitro, and promotes its refolding by the M. tuberculosis Hsp70 chaperone system. Furthermore, Rv0991c interacts with DnaK and associates with many other M. tuberculosis proteins. Importantly, we found Rv0991c is required for the full virulence of M. tuberculosis in mice. We therefore propose that Rv0991c, which we named "Ruc" (redox-regulated protein with unstructured C-terminus), represents a founding member of a new chaperone family that protects M. tuberculosis and other species from proteotoxicity during oxidative stress. IMPORTANCEM. tuberculosis infections are responsible for more than one million human deaths per year. Developing effective strategies to combat this disease requires a greater understanding of M. tuberculosis biology. As in all cells, protein quality control is essential for the viability of M. tuberculosis, which likely faces proteome stress within a host. Here, we identify an M. tuberculosis protein, Ruc, that gains chaperone activity upon oxidation. Ruc represents a previously unrecognized family of redox-regulated chaperones found throughout the bacterial super-kingdom. In addition to elucidating the activity of this chaperone, we found that Ruc was required for full M. tuberculosis virulence in mice. This work contributes to a growing appreciation that oxidative stress may provide a particular strain on protein stability in cells, and may likewise play a role in M. tuberculosis pathogenesis.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2018

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis Pup-proteasome system regulates nitrate metabolism through an essential protein quality control system

The human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) encodes a proteasome that carries out regulated degradation of bacterial proteins. It has been proposed that the proteasome contributes to nitrogen metabolism in M. tuberculosis, although this hypothesis had not been tested. Upon assessing M. tuberculosis growth in several nitrogen sources, we found that a mutant strain lacking the Mycobacterium proteasomal activator Mpa was unable to use nitrate as a sole nitrogen source due to a specific failure in the pathway of nitrate reduction to ammonium. We found that the robust activity by the nitrite reductase complex NirBD depended on expression of the groEL/groES chaperonin genes, which are regulated by the repressor HrcA. We identified HrcA as a likely proteasome substrate, and propose that the degradation of HrcA is required for the full expression of chaperonin genes. Furthermore, our data suggest that degradation of HrcA, along with numerous other proteasome substrates, is enhanced during growth in nitrate to facilitate the de-repression of the chaperonin genes. Importantly, growth in nitrate is the first example of a specific condition that reduces the steady-state levels of numerous proteasome substrates in M. tuberculosis.\n\nSIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTThe proteasome is required for the full virulence of M. tuberculosis. However, the extent of its role as a regulator of bacterial physiology remains unclear. In this work, we demonstrate a novel function of the proteasome system in maintaining the expression of essential chaperonin genes. This activity by the proteasome is required for M. tuberculosis to use nitrate as a nitrogen source. Furthermore, we identified a specific growth condition that robustly decreases the abundance of pupylated proteins. This observation strongly suggests the presence of a yet-to-be-determined mechanism of control over the Pup-proteasome system in M. tuberculosis that is induced in nitrate.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2017

Cytokinin signaling alters acid-fast staining of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

It was reported the human-exclusive pathogen Mycobacterium (M.) tuberculosis secretes cytokinins, which previously had only been known as plant hormones. Cytokinins are adenine-based signaling molecules in plants that have never been shown to participate in signal transduction in other kingdoms of life. Here, we show that cytokinins induce the strong expression of the M. tuberculosis gene, Rv0077c. We found that a TetR-like transcriptional regulator, Rv0078, directly repressed expression of the Rv0077c gene. Strikingly, cytokinin-induced expression of Rv0077c resulted in a loss of acid-fast staining of M. tuberculosis. Although acid-fast staining is thought to be associated with changes in the bacterial cell envelope and virulence, Rv0077c-induced loss of acid-fastness did not affect antibiotic susceptibility or attenuate bacterial growth in mice. Collectively, these findings show cytokinins signal transcriptional changes that affect the M. tuberculosis cell envelope, and that cytokinin signaling is no longer limited to the kingdom plantae.

microbiology↗