Isoniazid is one of the most effective antituberculosis drugs, yet its precise mechanism of action is still controversial. Using specialized linkage transduction, a single point mutation allele (S94A) within the putative target gene inhA was transferred in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The inhA(S94A) allele was sufficient to confer clinically relevant levels of resistance to isoniazid killing and inhibition of mycolic acid biosynthesis. This resistance correlated with the decreased binding of the INH-NAD inhibitor to InhA, as shown by enzymatic and X-ray crystallographic analyses, and establishes InhA as the primary target of isoniazid action in M. tuberculosis.

Phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (PHGPx) is a key enzyme in the protection of biomembranes exposed to oxidative stress. We investigated the role of mitochondrial PHGPx in apoptosis using RBL2H3 cells that overexpressed mitochondrial PHGPx (M15 cells), cells that overexpressed non-mitochondrial PHGPx (L9 cells), and control cells (S1 cells). The morphological changes and fragmentation of DNA associated with apoptosis occurred within 15 h in S1 and L9 cells upon exposure of cells to 2-deoxyglucose (2DG). The release of cytochrome c from mitochondria was observed in S1 cells after 4 h and was followed by the activation of caspase-3 within 6 h. Overexpression of mitochondrial PHGPx prevented the release of cytochrome c, the activation of caspase-3, and apoptosis, but non-mitochondrial PHGPx lacked the ability to prevent the induction of apoptosis by 2DG. An ability to protect cells from 2DG-induced apoptosis was abolished when the PHGPx activity of M15 cells was inhibited by diethylmalate, indicating that the resistance of M15 cells to apoptosis was indeed due to the overexpression of PHGPx in the mitochondria. The expression of members of the Bcl-2 family of proteins, such as Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, Bax, and Bad, was unchanged by the overexpression of PHGPx in cells. The levels of hydroperoxides, including hydrogen and lipid peroxide, in mitochondria isolated from S1 and L9 cells were significantly increased after the exposure to 2DG for 2 h, while the level of hydroperoxide in mitochondria isolated from M15 cells was lower than that in S1 and L9 cells. M15 cells were also resistant to apoptosis induced by etoposide, staurosporine, UV irradiation, cycloheximide, and actinomycin D, but not to apoptosis induced by Fas-specific antibodies, which induces apoptosis via a pathway distinct from the pathway initiated by 2DG. Our results suggest that hydroperoxide, produced in mitochondria, is a major factor in apoptosis and that mitochondrial PHGPx might play a critical role as an anti-apoptotic agent in mitochondrial death pathways.

Phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (PHGPx) is synthesized as a long form (L-form; 23 kDa) and a short form (S-form; 20 kDa). The L-form contains a leader sequence that is required for transport to mitochondria, whereas the S-form lacks the leader sequence. A construct encoding the leader sequence of PHGPx tagged with green fluorescent protein was used to transfect RBL-2H3 cells, and the fusion protein was transported to mitochondria. The L-form of PHGPx was identified as the mitochondrial form of PHGPx and the S-form as the non-mitochondrial form of PHGPx since preferential enrichment of mitochondria for PHGPx was detected in M15 cells that overexpressed the L-form of PHGPx, whereas no similar enrichment was detected in L9 cells that overexpressed the S-form. Cell death caused by mitochondrial injury due to potassium cyanide (KCN) or rotenone (chemical hypoxia) was considerably suppressed in the M15 cells, whereas the L9 cells and control RBL-2H3 cells (S1 cells, transfected with the vector alone) succumbed to the cytotoxic effects of KCN. Flow cytometric analysis showed that mitochondrial PHGPx suppressed the generation of hydroperoxide, the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, and the loss of plasma membrane integrity that are induced by KCN. Mitochondrial PHGPx might prevent changes in mitochondrial functions and cell death by reducing intracellular hydroperoxides. Mitochondrial PHGPx failed to protect M15 cells from mitochondrial injury by carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone, which directly reduces membrane potential without the generation of hydroperoxides. M15 cells were more resistant than L9 cells to cell death caused by direct damage to mitochondria and to extracellular oxidative stress. L9 cells were more resistant to tert-butylhydroperoxide than S1 cells, whereas resistance to t-butylhydroperoxide was even more pronounced in M15 cells than in L9 cells. These results suggest that mitochondria might be a target for intracellular and extracellular oxidative stress and that mitochondrial PHGPx, as distinct form non-mitochondrial PHGPx, might play a primary role in protecting cells from oxidative stress.

Specialized transduction has proven to be useful for generating deletion mutants in most mycobacteria, including virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We have improved this system by developing (i) a single-step strategy for the construction of allelic exchange substrates (AES), (ii) a temperature-sensitive shuttle phasmid with a greater cloning capacity than phAE87, and (