Profiling of Intracellular Metabolites: An Approach to Understanding the Characteristic Physiology of Mycobacterium leprae

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2016 Aug 1;10(8):e0004881. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0004881. eCollection 2016 Aug.

Abstract

Mycobacterium leprae is the causative agent of leprosy and also known to possess unique features such as inability to proliferate in vitro. Among the cellular components of M. leprae, various glycolipids present on the cell envelope are well characterized and some of them are identified to be pathogenic factors responsible for intracellular survival in host cells, while other intracellular metabolites, assumed to be associated with basic physiological feature, remain largely unknown. In the present study, to elucidate the comprehensive profile of intracellular metabolites, we performed the capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) analysis on M. leprae and compared to that of M. bovis BCG. Interestingly, comparison of these two profiles showed that, in M. leprae, amino acids and their derivatives are significantly accumulated, but most of intermediates related to central carbon metabolism markedly decreased, implying that M. leprae possess unique metabolic features. The present study is the first report demonstrating the unique profiles of M. leprae metabolites and these insights might contribute to understanding undefined metabolism of M. leprae as well as pathogenic characteristics related to the manifestation of the disease.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acids / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Antigens, Bacterial / metabolism
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Cytoplasm / metabolism*
  • Electrophoresis, Capillary
  • Glycolipids / metabolism
  • Leprosy / microbiology*
  • Mass Spectrometry
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Mice, Nude
  • Mycobacterium bovis / metabolism
  • Mycobacterium leprae / metabolism*

Substances

  • Amino Acids
  • Antigens, Bacterial
  • Glycolipids

Grants and funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 25871158 http://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-grants/index.html Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to YMi; and Grant Number H24-Shinko-Ippan-009 http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/index.html Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan to TM. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.