Analysis the virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis based of rapid-growing BCG

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K15277
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Bacteriology (including mycology)
• Research Institution: Okayama University
• Principal Investigator: Ohara Naoya 岡山大学, 医歯薬学総合研究科, 教授 (70223930)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 中山 真彰 岡山大学, 医歯薬学総合研究科, 助教 (10579105) ; 大原 直子 岡山大学, 大学病院, 講師 (80301365) ; 橘 理人 岡山大学, 医歯薬学総合研究科, 助教 (20636831)
• Research Collaborator: KOSAKI Hirotaka ; RYUMON Ayako
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: マイコバクテリウム / 増殖 / 葉酸代謝 / 結核 / BCG

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an intracellular pathogen, has a remarkably slow growth rate, and survives long periods of time in the host. We found that overexpression of thyX in BCG (pthyX) resulted in accelerating its growth rate. We analyzed the gene expression profiles in pthyX using RNAseq. Several genes in folate metabolism pathway were up-ragulated in pthyX. We concluded that tetrahydrofolate is the key molecule in the control of the growth rate of slow-growing mycobacteria.

Free Research Field

細菌学