Triacylglycerol: nourishing molecule in endurance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Abstract

The ability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) to accumulate lipid-rich molecules as an energy source obtained from host cell debris remains interesting. Additionally, the potential of M. tuberculosis to survive under different stress conditions leading to its dormant state in pathogenesis remains elusive. The exact mechanism by which these lipid bodies generated in M. tuberculosis infection and utilized by bacilli inside infected macrophage for its survival is still not understood. In this, during bacillary infection, many metabolic pathways are involved that influence the survival of M. tuberculosis for their own support. However, the exact energy source derived from infecting host cells remain elusive. Therefore, this study highlights several alternative energy sources in the form of triacylglycerol (TAG) and fatty acids, i.e. oleic acids accumulation, which are essential in dormancy-like state under M. tuberculosis infection. The prominent stage in tuberculosis (TB) infection is re-establishment of M. tuberculosis under stress conditions and deployment of a confined strategy to utilize these biomolecules for its persistence survival. So, growing in our understanding of these pathways will help us in accelerating therapies, which could reduce TB prevalence world widely.

Analysis of Clinical Features and Risk Factors in Pregnant Women With Miliary Pulmonary Tuberculosis After In Vitro Fertilization Embryo Transfer

“…Approximately 15%–30% of patients with pulmonary TB during pregnancy exhibit hematogenous dissemination and suffer from miliary TB ( Sobhy et al., 2017 ). It has been reported that the reasons for this phenomenon are associated with immune dysregulation ( Mor and Cardenas, 2010 ), increased vascular permeability ( Mali and Meena, 2018 ), or elevated blood lipid levels ( Miele et al., 2020 ) during pregnancy, while miliary TB in pregnancy after IVF-ET is rare and the incidence has not been estimated. Our results reinforced previous findings that women during pregnancy after IVF-ET were more prone to miliary TB ( Ye et al., 2019 ; Gai et al., 2021 ).…”

“…After establishing a focus of infection in the lung, bacilli can disseminate via the hematogenous to the most vascular organs, such as brain meningeal involvement, which was evident postmortem in 54% of cases of miliary TB ( Mali and Meena, 2018 ). In our study, 14 out of 75 cases (18.7%) were complicated with TB meningitis and/or encephalitis.…”

Mycobacterial Populations Partly Change the Proportions of the Cells Undergoing Asymmetric/Symmetric Divisions in Response to Glycerol Levels in Growth Medium

“…Hence, we did not examine the influence of pyruvate and acetate, or any other potential carbon sources for that matter, on ACD/SCD cell division pattern. Further, mycobacteria are known to have adapted to lipids (mostly triacylglycerol) as an evolutionarily important nutrient source enabling their lifestyle vis-à-vis living habitat [ 77 ]. Above all, the present study on the response of Msm , in terms of change in the proportions of the cells dividing by ACD:SCD and the genes involved therein, to yield higher proportion of more stress tolerant NCs and lower proportion of stress susceptible SCs, would enable further investigations on how mycobacteria would change their cell division strategy to maintain a high proportion of stress tolerant NCs in response to the nutrient status.…”

The High Plasticity of Nonpathogenic Mycobacterium brumae Induces Rapid Changes in Its Lipid Profile during Pellicle Maturation: The Potential of This Bacterium as a Versatile Cell Factory for Lipid Compounds of Therapeutic Interest

“…The major and best known lipid storage molecules in ILIs are triacylglycerides (TAGs), although phosphate-rich or wax esters are also present [ 16 , 17 ]. Specifically, TAGs are important in host-pathogen interactions [ 18 ] as well as in therapeutic applications of mycobacteria [ 19 ]. In this sense, although TAGs seem to be nonreactogenic, they can modify the triggered immune response via a masking phenomenon [ 20 ], becoming key compounds for immunomodulatory therapies.…”