Phosphorylation of CFP10 modulates Mycobacterium tuberculosis virulence

• Published in: mBio Vol. 14; no. 5; p. e0123223
• Main Authors: Malakar, Basanti, Chauhan, Komal, Sanyal, Priyadarshini, Naz, Saba, Kalam, Haroon, Vivek-Ananth, R P, Singh, Lakshya Veer, Samal, Areejit, Kumar, Dhiraj, Nandicoori, Vinay Kumar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society for Microbiology 31.10.2023
• Subjects: Antigens, Bacterial - metabolism; Bacterial Proteins - metabolism; CFP10; ESAT6; Humans; Mycobacteriology; Mycobacterium tuberculosis - metabolism; Phosphorylation; Proteomics; Research Article; secretion; tuberculosis; Virulence; Virulence Factors; secretion; virulence; ESAT6; tuberculosis; PknB; PknA; CFP10; phosphorylation
• ISSN: 2150-7511; 2150-7511
• DOI: 10.1128/mbio.01232-23

Secreted virulence factors play a critical role in bacterial pathogenesis. Virulence effectors not only help bacteria to overcome the host immune system but also aid in establishing infection. , which causes tuberculosis in humans, encodes various virulence effectors. Triggers that modulate the secretion of virulence effectors in are yet to be fully understood. To gain mechanistic insight into the secretion of virulence effectors, we performed high-throughput proteomic studies. With the help of system-level protein-protein interaction network analysis and empirical validations, we unravelled a link between phosphorylation and secretion. Taking the example of the well-known virulence factor of CFP10, we show that the dynamics of CFP10 phosphorylation strongly influenced bacterial virulence and survival and . This study presents the role of phosphorylation in modulating the secretion of virulence factors.