Research Article
Harini Lakshminarayan, A. Raja
Abstract
The adaptation to nutrient depletion in bacteria involves a highly organized series of intracellular events that enable them to adapt to starvation conditions. The regulatory effect of serine threonine protein kinase, PknL, fromMycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37Rv was investigated under nutrient deprived conditions that simulate circumstances leading to latency. Recombinant PknL was expressed in Mycobacterium smegmatis strain mc2 155 in its wild type and mutant forms. In vitro growth kinetics experiments revealed that clone expressing active PknL had a significant growth advantage under nutrient limiting conditions. Experiments were conducted to ascertain the in silico predictions of the involvement of PknL in regulating glutamine metabolism in mycobacteria. Furthermore, a role for PknL in cell wall biogenesis/cell division was shown by scanning electron microscopy.