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Assay Development for High-Throughput Drug Screening Against Mycobacteria
Published on: October 25, 2024
Antimicrobial activity of clofazimine is not dependent on mycobacterial C-type phospholipases
M C Bopape1, H C Steel, R Cockeran
1Tuberculosis Research Lead Programme, Medical Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa.
Abstract:
We have used a phospholipase C (PLC)-deletion mutant (plcABC) of the H37Rv strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), as well as a plcA-insertion mutant of Mycobacterium smegmatis, to investigate the possible involvement of PLCs in clofazimine-mediated inhibition of mycobacterial K(+) transport and growth. Inactivation of the PLCs of MTB and insertion of the plcA gene into M. smegmatis resulted in a substantial reduction and increase in hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine (PC), respectively. However, both the mutant and wild-type strains of MTB and M. smegmatis were equally sensitive to the inhibitory effects of clofazimine on K(+) uptake and growth. These observations demonstrate that the PLCs of MTB are not involved in the antimicrobial activity of clofazimine.
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