Systematic Identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Effectors Reveals that BfrB Suppresses Innate Immunity [Research]

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) has evolved multiple strategies to counter the human immune system. The effectors of Mtb play important roles in the interactions with the host. However, due to the lack of highly efficient strategies, there are only a handful of known Mtb effectors, thus hampering our understanding of Mtb pathogenesis. In this study, we probed Mtb proteome microarray with biotinylated whole-cell lysates of human macrophages, identifying 27 Mtb membrane proteins and secreted proteins that bind to macrophage proteins. Combining GST pull-down with mass spectroscopy then enabled the specific identification of all binders. We refer to this proteome microarray-based strategy as SOPHIE (Systematic unlOcking of Pathogen and Host Interacting Effectors). Detailed investigation of a novel effector identified here, the iron storage protein BfrB (Rv3841), revealed that BfrB inhibits NF-B-dependent transcription through binding and reducing the nuclear abundance of the ribosomal protein S3 (RPS3), which is a functional subunit of NF-B. The importance of this interaction was evidenced by the promotion of survival in macrophages of the mycobacteria, Mycobacterium smegmatis, by overexpression of BfrB. Thus, beyond demonstrating the power of SOPHIE in the discovery of novel effectors of human pathogens, we expect that the set of Mtb effectors identified in this work will greatly facilitate the understanding of the pathogenesis of Mtb in particular, possibly leading to additional potential molecular targets in the battle against tuberculosis.

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