Integrated sensing of host stresses by inhibition of a cytoplasmic two-component system controls M. tuberculosis acute lung infection

Abstract

Bacterial pathogens that infect phagocytic cells must deploy mechanisms that sense and neutralize host microbicidal effectors. For <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i>, the causative agent of tuberculosis, these mechanisms allow the bacterium to rapidly adapt from aerosol transmission to initial growth in the lung alveolar macrophage. Here, we identify a branched signaling circuit in <i>M. tuberculosis</i> that controls growth in the lung through integrated direct sensing of copper ions and nitric oxide by coupled activity of the Rip1 intramembrane protease and the PdtaS/R two-component system. This circuit uses a two-signal mechanism to inactivate the PdtaS/PdtaR two-component system, which constitutively represses virulence gene expression. Cu and NO inhibit the PdtaS sensor kinase through a dicysteine motif in the N-terminal GAF domain. The NO arm of the pathway is further controlled by sequestration of the PdtaR RNA binding response regulator by an NO-induced small RNA, controlled by the Rip1 intramembrane protease. This coupled Rip1/PdtaS/PdtaR circuit controls NO resistance and acute lung infection in mice by relieving PdtaS/R-mediated repression of isonitrile chalkophore biosynthesis. These studies identify an integrated mechanism by which <i>M. tuberculosis</i> senses and resists macrophage chemical effectors to achieve pathogenesis.