Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)4 infects one-third of the human population and is the leading cause of lethal bacterial infections worldwide. Synergy of Mtb with the HIV virus and the emergence of extensively drug-resistant Mtb strains (XDR-TB) have further emphasized this pathogen as a major global health threat (1). However, understanding of many of its key physiological processes, particularly those contributing to intracellular survival, is limited. One element of Mtb physiology that may prove important for therapeutic development is its unusually high number of cytochromes P450 (P450s). P450s are heme-dependent mono-oxygenases that utilize reducing equivalents from NAD(P)H relayed via electron transfer proteins to activate heme-bound O 2 . Typical of actinomycete genomes, that of Mtb includes 20 genes encoding P450s (2). In these bacteria, P450s are typically involved in the initial catabolism of growth substrates and in secondary metabolite biosynthesis. Given the high number of P450s in Mtb and their susceptibility to azole drugs, this class of enzyme has been proposed as a promising target for antimycobacterial therapeutic development (2). However, the function of most mycobacterial P450s has yet to be determined.The gene encoding one Mtb P450, cyp125 (Rv3545c), belongs to a large cluster of genes encoding cholesterol degradation (3). This cluster is conserved in several actinobacteria including the non-pathogenic soil bacterium, Rhodococcus jostii RHA1. The genes encode functions necessary for cholesterol import (4), as well as for the degradation of the steroid side chain and rings A and B (3). Several of the ring degradation enzymes from Mtb have been characterized biochemically (5-9). Animal infection studies of mutants deficient in cholesterol uptake and catabolism have indicated that cholesterol metabolism in Mtb plays an important role in infection, contributing to both dissemination in the host (7) and persistence (9, 10). These results are consistent with several mutant screens, which previously identified numerous genes in the cholesterol degradation pathway as having an impact on intracellular growth and survival in both mouse and macrophage models (11, 12), implicating cholesterol catabolism in Mtb pathogenicity.Cyp125 has been implicated in the in vivo survival of Mtb, although its catalytic activity has not been demonstrated, and its physiological role remains unclear. The cyp125 gene is upregulated during growth of Mtb in interferon ␥-activated macrophages (13)

No abstract

Many existing irrigation, industrial and chemical storage sites are currently introducing hazardous anions into groundwater, making the monitoring of such sites a high priority. Detecting and quantifying anions in water samples typically requires complex instrumentation, adding cost and delaying analysis. Here we address these challenges by development of an optical molecular method to detect and discriminate a broad range of anionic contaminants with DNA-based fluorescent sensors. A library of 1296 tetrameric-length oligodeoxyfluorosides (ODFs) composed of metal ligand and fluorescence modulating monomers was constructed with a DNA synthesizer on PEG-polystyrene microbeads. These oligomers on beads were incubated with YIII or ZnII ions to provide affinity and responsiveness to anions. Seventeen anions were screened with the library under an epifluorescence microscope, ultimately yielding eight chemosensors that could discriminate 250 μM solutions of all 17 anions in buffered water using their patterns of response. This sensor set was able to identify two unknown anion samples from ten closely-responding anions and could also function quantitatively, determining unknown concentrations of anions such as cyanide (as low as 1 mM) and selenate (as low as 50 μM). Further studies with calibration curves established detection limits of selected anions including thiocyanate (detection limit ~300 μM) and arsenate (~800 μM). The results demonstrate DNA-like fluorescent chemosensors as versatile tools for optically analyzing environmentally hazardous anions in aqueous environments.