Metabolomics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis reveals compartmentalized co-catabolism of carbon substrates.

TitleMetabolomics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis reveals compartmentalized co-catabolism of carbon substrates.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2010
Authorsde Carvalho LPedro S, Fischer SM, Marrero J, Nathan C, Ehrt S, Rhee KY
JournalChem Biol
Volume17
Issue10
Pagination1122-31
Date Published2010 Oct 29
ISSN1879-1301
KeywordsCarbon, Catabolite Repression, Glycolysis, Metabolome, Metabolomics, Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Abstract

Metabolic adaptation to the host environment is a defining feature of the pathogenicity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), but we lack biochemical knowledge of its metabolic networks. Many bacteria use catabolite repression as a regulatory mechanism to maximize growth by consuming individual carbon substrates in a preferred sequence and growing with diauxic kinetics. Surprisingly, untargeted metabolite profiling of Mtb growing on ¹³C-labeled carbon substrates revealed that Mtb could catabolize multiple carbon sources simultaneously to achieve enhanced monophasic growth. Moreover, when co-catabolizing multiple carbon sources, Mtb differentially catabolized each carbon source through the glycolytic, pentose phosphate, and/or tricarboxylic acid pathways to distinct metabolic fates. This unusual topologic organization of bacterial intermediary metabolism has not been previously observed and may subserve the pathogenicity of Mtb.

DOI10.1016/j.chembiol.2010.08.009
Alternate JournalChem Biol
PubMed ID21035735

Weill Cornell Medicine Microbiology and Immunology 1300 York Avenue, Box 62 New York, NY 10065 Phone: (212) 746-6505 Fax: (212) 746-8587