Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-14T14:51:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 437675.pdf: 3014292 bytes, checksum: 10c5c967edfd4e61677f7867c8186a73 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-12-09 / Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease mainly caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which currently infects one-third of the world s population. Despite the availability of the Bacille Calmette-Gu?rin vaccine and effective short-course chemotherapy, the increasing global burden of TB has been linked to the co-infection with HIV, the emergence of multi, extensively and now totally drug-resistant strains. Furthermore, the capacity of M. tuberculosis to remain viable within infected hosts in a long-term asymptomatic infection is an additional problem for the control of TB. Nucleotides biosynthesis pathways provide promising molecular targets for the development of new vaccines and therapeutic strategies to control the global incidence of TB. Uracil phosphoribosyltransferase (UPRT) catalyzes the conversion of uracil and 5'-phosphoribosyl-a- 1'-pyrophosphate (PRPP) to uridine 5'-monophosphate (UMP) and pyrophosphate (PPi). UPRT plays an important role in the pyrimidine salvage pathway since its product (UMP) is a common precursor of all pyrimidine nucleotides. This work presents cloning, recombinant expression in Escherichia coli, and purification of the upp-encoded M. tuberculosis UPRT (MtUPRT). Mass spectrometry analysis and N-terminal amino acid sequencing confirmed the identity of homogeneous MtUPRT. The molecular mass of the native MtUPRT was shown to follow a monomer-tetramer association model by analytical ultracentrifugation. This enzyme did not show a pronounced regulation by GTP as this nucleotide did not affect enzyme kinetic parameters, and its binding was not detected by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). Initial velocity and ITC studies suggested that catalysis proceeds through a sequential ordered mechanism, in which PRPP binds first, followed by uracil binding, and PPi is the first product to be released, followed by UMP. ITC also showed that PRPP and UMP binding are thermodynamically favorable processes. The pH-rate profiles indicated that groups with pK values of 5.7 and 8.1 are important for catalytic activity and a group with a pK value of 9.45 is involved in PRPP binding. Pre-steady-state kinetic data suggested that product release is not the rate-limiting step of the reaction catalyzed by MtUPRT. Kinetic fluorescence studies demonstrated two forms of enzyme in solution of which only one can bind to PRPP. Knockout of the upp gene showed that this gene is not essential for M. tuberculosis H37Rv in the employed experimental conditions and the absence of upp gene did not affect the mycobacterium growth. UPRT is expressed in both high and low oxygen conditions of M. tuberculosis H37Ra growth. MtUPRT is inhibited by an active metabolite of isoxyl, which does not seem to inhibit RNA polymerase, adenine phosphoribosyltransferase and hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase. Minimum inhibitory concentration of isoxyl for M. tuberculosis mutant for upp gene, complemented and wild type strains was 12.8 μg/mL, meaning that the absence of the upp gene did not affect M. tuberculosis sensitivity to isoxyl. Altogether, these data may be useful for a better understanding about the nucleotide biosynthesis pathway in M. tuberculosis and as a framework on which to base efforts towards the development of efficient prophylactic and therapeutic strategies to decrease the global incidence of this pathogen. / A tuberculose (TB) ? uma doen?a infecciosa causada principalmente pelo Mycobacterium tuberculosis, o qual atualmente infecta um ter?o da popula??o mundial. Apesar da disponibilidade da vacina Bacille Calmette-Gu?rin e da eficaz quimioterapia de curta dura??o, o aumento na incid?ncia global da TB est? relacionado ? co-infec??o com o HIV e ao surgimento de cepas multi, extensivamente e agora totalmente resistente a drogas. Al?m disto, a capacidade do M. tuberculosis de permanecer vi?vel dentro do hospedeiro infectado por longo per?odo em uma infec??o assintom?tica ? um problema adicional para o controle da TB. As rotas de bioss?ntese de nucleot?deos fornecem alvos moleculares promissores para o desenvolvimento de novas vacinas e estrat?gias terap?uticas para controlar a incid?ncia global de TB no mundo. A uracil fosforribosil transferase (UPRT) catalisa a convers?o de uracil e 5 - fosforribosil-a-1 -pirofosfato (PRPP) a uridina 5 -monofosfato (UMP) e pirofosfato (PPi). A UPRT tem um papel importante na rota de salvamento das pirimidinas j? que seu produto (UMP) ? o precursor comum de todos os nucleot?deos pirim?dicos. Este trabalho apresenta a clonagem, express?o recombinante em E. coli, e a purifica??o da UPRT de M. tuberculosis codificada pelo gene upp (MtUPRT). Adicionalmente, foram realizadas an?lises de espectrometria de massas e sequenciamento N-terminal que confirmaram a identidade da MtUPRT homog?nea. A massa molecular da MtUPRT nativa seguiu um modelo de associa??o mon?mero-tetr?mero por ultracentrifuga??o anal?tica. Esta enzima n?o mostrou uma regula??o pronunciada por GTP j? que este nucleot?deo n?o afetou os par?metros cin?ticos da enzima, e a sua liga??o n?o foi detectada por calorimetria de titula??o isot?rmica (ITC). A velocidade inicial e os estudos de ITC sugeriram que a cat?lise procede atrav?s de um mecanismo ordenado sequencial, no qual o PRPP liga primeiramente, seguido pela liga??o de uracil, e PPi ? o primeiro produto a ser liberado, seguido pelo UMP. ITC tamb?m mostrou que a liga??o de PRPP e UMP s?o processos termodinamicamente favor?veis. O perfil de pH indicou que grupamentos com os valores de pK pr?ximos de 5,7 e 8,1 s?o importantes para a atividade catal?tica e um grupamento com valor de pK pr?ximo a 9,45 est? envolvido na liga??o do PRPP. Dados de cin?tica no estado pr?-estacion?rio sugeriram que a libera??o de produto n?o ? a etapa limitante da rea??o catalisada pela MtUPRT. Estudos de fluoresc?ncia demonstraram a exist?ncia de duas formas da enzima em solu??o, das quais apenas uma pode ligar ao PRPP. O nocaute do gene upp demonstrou que este gene n?o ? essencial para o M. tuberculosis H37Rv nas condi??es empregadas no experimento e a aus?ncia do gene upp n?o afetou o crescimento micobacteriano. A UPRT mostrou ser expressa tanto em altas como em baixas concentra??es de oxig?nio. A MtUPRT foi inibida por um metab?lito ativo do isoxyl, que n?o parece inibir as enzimas RNA polimerase, adenina fosforribosil transferase e hipoxantinaguanina fosforribosil transferase. A concentra??o inibit?ria m?nima de isoxyl para as cepas de M. tuberculosis mutante para o gene upp, complementada e tipo selvagem foi de 12,8 μg/mL, o que significa que a aus?ncia do gene upp n?o afetou a sensibilidade do M. tuberculosis ao isoxyl. Assim, estes dados podem ser ?teis para um melhor entendimento sobre a via de bioss?ntese de nucleot?deos em M. tuberculosis e podem servir como base para o desenvolvimento de estrat?gias terap?uticas e preventivas eficientes para diminuir a incid?ncia global deste pat?geno.