An outer membrane channel protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis with exotoxin activity
Abstract
The mechanisms that enable Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, to resist drug treatment and survive the immune response are poorly understood. In this study we discovered that M. tuberculosis produces the protein channel protein with necrosis-inducing toxin (CpnT), which forms a channel in the outer membrane and releases a toxic domain into the extracellular milieu. This toxin has no similarity to known bacterial toxins and kills eukaryotic cells by necrosis, suggesting that it is required for escape of M. tuberculosis from macrophages and for dissemination. The channel domain of CpnT is used for uptake of nutrients across the outer membrane. Taken together, CpnT is a protein with functions in two fundamental processes in M. tuberculosis physiology: nutrient acquisition and control of host cell death.
- Publication:
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- May 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1400136111
- Bibcode:
- 2014PNAS..111.6750D