Study of promoter and structural gene sequence of whiB7 in MDR and XDR forms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Resistance phenomenon in M tuberculosis is mainly based on decreased permeability of the bacterial envelope and function of effluent pumps. The regulatory gene of the whiB7 transcription determines drug resistance in these bacteria. Increases in WhiB7 protein activity induce transcription of resistance genes leading to intrinsic multidrug resistance. The aim of this work was to evaluate the whiB7 gene sequence in susceptible, MDR and XDR clinical isolates of M tuberculosis in order to further design an inhibitor. Thirty-three clinical isolates of MTB identified as susceptible, MDR and XDR-TB were investigated by PCR for sequencing of the entire promoter (429 bp), structural gene (279 bp) and the end of the upstream gene uvrD (265 bp). No differences were detected in the sequences of the structural gene in susceptible and MDR with XDR isolates and all of them terminated at TGA as stop codon. Examination of sequence profiles of the promoter part of whiB7 by several sets of primers proved that there were no differences between sequence of susceptible, MDR and XDR isolates by type strain (H37Rr). Furthermore, the structure of WhiB7 protein was studied in achieved sequences from clinical isolates. We found that the promoter and structural gene of whiB7 are highly conservative in clinical susceptible and resistant isolates. It is a key finding that would assist in the design of an inhibitor for the WhiB7 protein in all clinical forms in further studies.