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The Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein kinase K regulates growth adaptation by facilitating mycobacterial survival in response to a variety of in vitro and in vivo stress conditions. Here, we further add that pknK transcription is responsive to carbon and nitrogen starvation signals. The increased survival of an M. tuberculosis Δ pknK mutant strain under carbon- and nitrogen-limiting growth conditions compared to the wild-type (WT) H37Rv suggests an integral role of PknK in regulating growth during metabolic stress. To identify the downstream targets of PknK-mediated signaling, we compared phosphoproteomic and transcription profiles of mycobacterial strains overexpressing WT and phosphorylation-defective PknK. Results implicate PknK as a signaling protein that can regulate several enzymes involved in central metabolism, transcription regulation, and signal transduction. A key finding of this study was the identification of two essential two-component response regulator (RR) proteins, PrrA and MtrA, and Rho transcription terminator, as unique targets for PknK. We confirm that PknK interacts with and phosphorylates PrrA, MtrA, and Rho in vivo . PknK-mediated phosphorylation of MtrA appears to increase binding of the RR to the cognate probe DNA. However, dual phosphorylation of MtrA and PrrA response regulators by PknK and their respective cognate sensor kinases in vitro showed nominal additive effect on the mobility of the protein-DNA complex, suggesting the presence of a potential fine-tuning of the signal transduction pathway which might respond to multiple cues. IMPORTANCE Networks of gene regulation and signaling cascades are fundamental to the pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in adapting to the continuously changing intracellular environment in the host. M. tuberculosis protein kinase K is a transcription regulator that responds to diverse environmental signals and facilitates stress-induced growth adaptation in culture and during infection. This study identifies multiple signaling interactions of PknK and provides evidence that PknK can change the transcriptional landscape during growth transitions by connecting distinctly different signal transduction and regulatory pathways essential for mycobacterial survival.

The DNA polymorphisms found in clinical strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis drive altered physiology, virulence, and pathogenesis in them. Although the lineages of these clinical strains can be traced back to common ancestor/s, there exists a plethora of difference between them, compared to those that have evolved in the laboratory. We identify a mutation present in ~80% of clinical strains, which maps in the HATPase domain of the sensor kinase MtrB and alters kinase and phosphatase activities, and affects its physiological role. The changes conferred by the mutation were probed by in-vitro biochemical assays which revealed changes in signaling properties of the sensor kinase. These changes also affect bacterial cell division rates, size and membrane properties. The study highlights the impact of DNA polymorphisms on the pathophysiology of clinical strains and provides insights into underlying mechanisms that drive signal transduction in pathogenic bacteria., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The genome sequencing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis , the causative organism of tuberculosis, has significantly improved our understanding of the mechanisms that drive the establishment of infection and disease progression. Several clinical strains of M. tuberculosis exhibit single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the implications of which are only beginning to be understood. Here, we examined the impact of a specific polymorphism in PhoR, the sensor kinase of the PhoPR two-component system. Biochemical analysis revealed reduced autophosphatase/ATPase activity, which led to enhanced downstream gene expression. We complemented M. tuberculosis H37Ra with the wild-type and mutant phoPR genes and characterized the strains in a cell line infection model. We provide an explanation for the low prevalence of the SNP in clinical strains (∼1%), as the mutation causes a survival disadvantage in the host cells. The study provides a rare example of selection of a signaling node under competing evolutionary forces, wherein a biochemically superior mutation aids bacterial adaptation within-host but has low fitness for infection and hence is not selected. Our study highlights the importance of accounting for such SNPs to test therapeutic and co-therapeutic methods to combat TB., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Waturuocha, Krishna, Malhotra, Dixit and Saini.)