Mycobacterium tuberculosis utilizes many mechanisms to establish itself within the macrophage, and bacterially derived cAMP is important in modulating the host cellular response. Although the genome of M. tuberculosis is endowed with a number of mammalian-like adenylyl cyclases, only a single cAMP phosphodiesterase has been identified that can decrease levels of cAMP produced by the bacterium. We present the crystal structure of the full-length and sole cAMP phosphodiesterase, Rv0805, found in M. tuberculosis, whose orthologs are present only in the genomes of slow growing and pathogenic mycobacteria. The dimeric core catalytic domain of Rv0805 adopts a metallophosphoesterase-fold, and the C-terminal region builds the active site and contributes to multiple substrate utilization. Localization of Rv0805 to the cell wall is dependent on its C terminus, and expression of either wild type or mutationally inactivated Rv0805 in M. smegmatis alters cell permeability to hydrophobic cytotoxic compounds. Rv0805 may therefore play a key role in the pathogenicity of mycobacteria, not only by hydrolyzing bacterial cAMP, but also by moonlighting as a protein that can alter cell wall functioning.Mycobacterium tuberculosis is probably one of the most successful human pathogens known so far, being singly responsible for the largest number of deaths worldwide due to an infectious disease. M. tuberculosis is phagocytosed by the macrophage and is able to subvert the defenses of the host by a number of mechanisms. These include the presence of a complex cell wall that prevents free passage of potentially toxic material, the ability of the bacteria to withstand the acidic environment of the phagolysosome, and to neutralize reactive oxygen and nitrogen species produced by the activated macrophage (1). An increased understanding of mechanisms utilized by this pathogen to evade the host immune system and continue to reside in the hostile environment of the macrophage, would no doubt provide avenues for the development of drugs to novel targets in the bacterium.Cross-communication between the pathogen and host could involve the utilization of signaling molecules that are conserved evolutionarily. Cyclic AMP is found in all kingdoms of life, and proteins that synthesize and degrade the cyclic nucleotide have been well characterized. The genome of M. tuberculosis H37Rv encodes 16 mammalian-like nucleotide cyclase-like genes (2), and intracellular and extracellular levels of cAMP are very high in both pathogenic and non-pathogenic (e.g. Mycobacterium smegmatis) mycobacteria (2, 3). Recent evidence has highlighted the importance of cAMP in modulating the host macrophage response to M. tuberculosis infection (4). A single adenylyl cyclase was shown to be responsible for the burst of cAMP that is seen in the macrophage following phagocytosis of M. tuberculosis, and this bacterially derived increase in cAMP was essential to attenuate the response of the macrophage to the pathogen.The regulated degradation of cAMP is as important as its synthesi...

Chromatin immunoprecipitation identified 191 binding sites of Mycobacterium tuberculosis cAMP receptor protein (CRPMt) at endogenous expression levels using a specific α-CRPMt antibody. Under these native conditions an equal distribution between intragenic and intergenic locations was observed. CRPMt binding overlapped a palindromic consensus sequence. Analysis by RNA sequencing revealed widespread changes in transcriptional profile in a mutant strain lacking CRPMt during exponential growth, and in response to nutrient starvation. Differential expression of genes with a CRPMt-binding site represented only a minor portion of this transcriptional reprogramming with ∼19% of those representing transcriptional regulators potentially controlled by CRPMt. The subset of genes that are differentially expressed in the deletion mutant under both culture conditions conformed to a pattern resembling canonical CRP regulation in Escherichia coli, with binding close to the transcriptional start site associated with repression and upstream binding with activation. CRPMt can function as a classical transcription factor in M. tuberculosis, though this occurs at only a subset of CRPMt-binding sites.

Calcineurin-like metallophosphoesterases (MPEs) form a large superfamily of binuclear metal-ion-centre-containing enzymes that hydrolyse phosphomono-, phosphodi- or phosphotri-esters in a metal-dependent manner. The MPE domain is found in Mre11/SbcD DNA-repair enzymes, mammalian phosphoprotein phosphatases, acid sphingomyelinases, purple acid phosphatases, nucleotidases and bacterial cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases. Despite this functional diversity, MPEs show a remarkably similar structural fold and active-site architecture. In the present review, we summarize the available structural, biochemical and functional information on these proteins. We also describe how diversification and specialization of the core MPE fold in various MPEs is achieved by amino acid substitution in their active sites, metal ions and regulatory effects of accessory domains. Finally, we discuss emerging roles of these proteins as non-catalytic protein-interaction scaffolds. Thus we view the MPE superfamily as a set of proteins with a highly conserved structural core that allows embellishment to result in dramatic and niche-specific diversification of function.

Gene regulatory networks allow organisms to generate coordinated responses to environmental challenges. In bacteria, regulatory networks are re-wired and re-purposed during evolution, though the relationship between selection pressures and evolutionary change is poorly understood. In this study, we discover that the early evolutionary response of Escherichia coli to the antibiotic trimethoprim involves derepression of PhoPQ signaling, an Mg2+-sensitive two-component system, by inactivation of the MgrB feedback-regulatory protein. We report that derepression of PhoPQ confers trimethoprim-tolerance to E. coli by hitherto unrecognized transcriptional upregulation of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), target of trimethoprim. As a result, mutations in mgrB precede and facilitate the evolution of drug resistance. Using laboratory evolution, genome sequencing, and mutation re-construction, we show that populations of E. coli challenged with trimethoprim are faced with the evolutionary ‘choice’ of transitioning from tolerant to resistant by mutations in DHFR, or compensating for the fitness costs of PhoPQ derepression by inactivating the RpoS sigma factor, itself a PhoPQ-target. Outcomes at this evolutionary branch-point are determined by the strength of antibiotic selection, such that high pressures favor resistance, while low pressures favor cost compensation. Our results relate evolutionary changes in bacterial gene regulatory networks to strength of selection and provide mechanistic evidence to substantiate this link.