Association between intrinsic disorder and serine/threonine phosphorylation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Serine/threonine phosphorylation is an important mechanism that is involved in the regulation of protein function. In eukaryotes, phosphorylation occurs predominantly in intrinsically disordered regions of proteins. Though serine/threonine phosphorylation and protein disorder are much less prevalent in prokaryotes, some bacteria have high levels of serine/threonine phosphorylation and disorder, including the medically important M. tuberculosis. Here I show that serine/threonine phosphorylation sites in M. tuberculosis are highly enriched in intrinsically disordered regions, indicating similarity in the substrate recognition mechanisms of eukaryotic and M. tuberculosis kinases. Serine/threonine phosphorylation has been linked to the pathogenicity and survival of M. tuberculosis. Thus, a better understanding of how its kinases recognize their substrates could have important implications in understanding and controlling the biology of this deadly pathogen. These results also indicate that the association between serine/threonine phosphorylation and disorder is not a feature restricted to eukaryotes.