A Newly Discovered Mycobacterial Pathogen Isolated from Laboratory Colonies of Xenopus Species with Lethal Infections Produces a Novel Form of Mycolactone, the Mycobacterium ulcerans Macrolide Toxin
Open Access
- 1 June 2005
- journal article
- Published by American Society for Microbiology in Infection and Immunity
- Vol. 73 (6), 3307-3312
- https://doi.org/10.1128/iai.73.6.3307-3312.2005
Abstract
Mycobacterium ulcerans , the causative agent of Buruli ulcer, produces a macrolide toxin, mycolactone A/B, which is thought to play a major role in virulence. A disease similar to Buruli ulcer recently appeared in United States frog colonies following importation of the West African frog, Xenopus tropicalis . The taxonomic position of the frog pathogen has not been fully elucidated, but this organism, tentatively designated Mycobacterium liflandii , is closely related to M. ulcerans and Mycobacterium marinum , and as further evidence is gathered, it will most likely be considered a subspecies of one of these species. In this paper we show that M. liflandii produces a novel plasmid-encoded mycolactone, mycolactone E. M. liflandii contains all of the genes in the mycolactone cluster with the exception of that encoding CYP140A2, a putative p450 monooxygenase. Although the core lactone structure is conserved in mycolactone E, the fatty acid side chain differs from that of mycolactone A/B in the number of hydroxyl groups and double bonds. The cytopathic phenotype of mycolactone E is identical to that of mycolactone A/B, although it is less potent. To further characterize the relationship between M. liflandii and M. ulcerans , strains were analyzed for the presence of the RD1 region genes, esxA (ESAT-6) and esxB (CFP-10). The M. ulcerans genome strain has a deletion in RD1 and lacks these genes. The results of these studies show that M. liflandii contains both esxA and esxB .Keywords
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