Posttranslational modification of a histone-like protein regulates phenotypic resistance to isoniazid in mycobacteria.
SCIENCE ADVANCES 2018;
4:eaao1478. [PMID:
29732401 PMCID:
PMC5931751 DOI:
10.1126/sciadv.aao1478]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2017] [Accepted: 03/20/2018] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
There is increasing evidence that phenotypically drug-resistant bacteria may be important determinants of antibiotic treatment failure. Using high-throughput imaging, we defined distinct subpopulations of mycobacterial cells that exhibit heritable but semi-stable drug resistance. These subpopulations have distinct transcriptional signatures and growth characteristics at both bulk and single-cell levels, which are also heritable and semi-stable. We find that the mycobacterial histone-like protein HupB is required for the formation of these subpopulations. Using proteomic approaches, we further demonstrate that HupB is posttranslationally modified by lysine acetylation and lysine methylation. Mutation of a single posttranslational modification site specifically abolishes the formation of one of the drug-resistant subpopulations of cells, providing the first evidence in prokaryotes that posttranslational modification of a bacterial nucleoid-associated protein may epigenetically regulate cell state.
Collapse