Rhodococcus
sp. strain RHA1, a soil bacterium related to
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
, degrades an exceptionally broad range of organic compounds. Transcriptomic analysis of cholesterol-grown RHA1 revealed a catabolic pathway predicted to proceed via 4-androstene-3,17-dione and 3,4-dihydroxy-9,10-seconandrost-1,3,5(10)-triene-9,17-dione (3,4-DHSA). Inactivation of each of the
hsaC
,
supAB
, and
mce4
genes in RHA1 substantiated their roles in cholesterol catabolism. Moreover, the
hsaC
−
mutant accumulated 3,4-DHSA, indicating that HsaC
RHA1
, formerly annotated as a biphenyl-degrading dioxygenase, catalyzes the oxygenolytic cleavage of steroid ring A. Bioinformatic analyses revealed that 51 rhodococcal genes specifically expressed during growth on cholesterol, including all predicted to specify the catabolism of rings A and B, are conserved within an 82-gene cluster in
M. tuberculosis
H37Rv and
Mycobacterium
bovis
bacillus Calmette–Guérin.
M. bovis
bacillus Calmette–Guérin grew on cholesterol, and
hsaC
and
kshA
were up-regulated under these conditions. Heterologously produced HsaC
H37Rv
and HsaD
H37Rv
transformed 3,4-DHSA and its ring-cleaved product, respectively, with apparent specificities ≈40-fold higher than for the corresponding biphenyl metabolites. Overall, we annotated 28 RHA1 genes and proposed physiological roles for a similar number of mycobacterial genes. During survival of
M. tuberculosis
in the macrophage, these genes are specifically expressed, and many appear to be essential. We have delineated a complete suite of genes necessary for microbial steroid degradation, and pathogenic mycobacteria have been shown to catabolize cholesterol. The results suggest that cholesterol metabolism is central to
M. tuberculosis
's unusual ability to survive in macrophages and provide insights into potential targets for novel therapeutics.
Rhodococcus sp.菌株RHA1是一种与结核分枝杆菌相关的土壤细菌,能够降解异常广泛的有机化合物。对以胆固醇为生长基质的RHA1进行转录组分析,预测其通过4-雄烯-3,17-二酮和3,4-二羟基-9,10-二氢-9,17-二酮(3,4-DHSA)进行降解。在RHA1中失活每个hsaC、supAB和mce4基因,证实它们在胆固醇分解中的作用。此外,hsaC-突变体积累了3,4-DHSA,表明HsaC RHA1,曾被注释为二苯基降解双氧水化酶,催化类固醇环A的氧解裂。生物信息学分析表明,在生长于胆固醇上时,51个rhodococcal基因,包括所有预测的环A和环B降解的基因,都在M. tuberculosis H37Rv和Mycobacterium bovis卡尔梅特-古林杆菌的82个基因簇中保守。M. bovis卡尔梅特-古林杆菌在胆固醇上生长,而在这些条件下,hsaC和kshA上调。异源表达的HsaC H37Rv和HsaD H37Rv转化了3,4-DHSA及其环裂解产物,其表观特异性约为相应的二苯基代谢物的40倍。总体而言,我们注释了28个RHA1基因,并提出了同样数量的结核分枝杆菌基因的生理作用。在结核分枝杆菌在巨噬细胞中生存时,这些基因被特异性地表达,许多基因似乎是必不可少的。我们已经勾勒出微生物类固醇降解所必需的完整基因组,并证明了致病分枝杆菌能够降解胆固醇。结果表明,胆固醇代谢对结核分枝杆菌在巨噬细胞中存活的不寻常能力至关重要,并提供了潜在的新型治疗靶点的见解。