Mycoredoxin-1 is one of the missing links in the oxidative stress defence mechanism of Mycobacteria

• Published in: Molecular microbiology 2012-11, Vol.86 (4), p.787-804
• Main Authors: Van Laer, Koen, Buts, Lieven, Foloppe, Nicolas, Vertommen, Didier, Van Belle, Karolien, Wahni, Khadija, Roos, Goedele, Nilsson, Lennart, Mateos, Luis M., Rawat, Mamta, van Nuland, Nico A. J., Messens, Joris
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Cysteine - metabolism; Defense mechanisms; Disulfides - metabolism; Electron transfer; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Deletion; Glycopeptides - metabolism; Gram-positive bacteria; Hydrogen bonds; Inositol - metabolism; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Models, Molecular; Mycobacterium smegmatis; Mycobacterium smegmatis - enzymology; Mycobacterium smegmatis - genetics; Mycobacterium smegmatis - metabolism; Mycobacterium smegmatis - physiology; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Oxidation-Reduction; Oxidative Stress; Oxidoreductases - chemistry; Oxidoreductases - genetics; Oxidoreductases - metabolism; Protein Conformation; Protein folding
• ISSN: 0950-382X; 1365-2958; 1365-2958
• DOI: 10.1111/mmi.12030

Summary To survive hostile conditions, the bacterial pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis produces millimolar concentrations of mycothiol as a redox buffer against oxidative stress. The reductases that couple the reducing power of mycothiol to redox active proteins in the cell are not known. We report a novel mycothiol‐dependent reductase (mycoredoxin‐1) with a CGYC catalytic motif. With mycoredoxin‐1 and mycothiol deletion strains of Mycobacterium smegmatis, we show that mycoredoxin‐1 and mycothiol are involved in the protection against oxidative stress. Mycoredoxin‐1 acts as an oxidoreductase exclusively linked to the mycothiol electron transfer pathway and it can reduce S‐mycothiolated mixed disulphides. Moreover, we solved the solution structures of oxidized and reduced mycoredoxin‐1, revealing a thioredoxin fold with a putative mycothiol‐binding site. With HSQC snapshots during electron transport, we visualize the reduction of oxidized mycoredoxin‐1 as a function of time and find that mycoredoxin‐1 gets S‐mycothiolated on its N‐terminal nucleophilic cysteine. Mycoredoxin‐1 has a redox potential of −218 mV and hydrogen bonding with neighbouring residues lowers the pKa of its N‐terminal nucleophilic cysteine. Determination of the oxidized and reduced structures of mycoredoxin‐1, better understanding of mycothiol‐dependent reactions in general, will likely give new insights in how M. tuberculosis survives oxidative stress in human macrophages.