The Minimal Unit of Infection: Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the Macrophage

The interaction between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its host cell is highly complex and extremely intimate. Were it not for the disease, one might regard this interaction at the cellular level as an almost symbiotic one. The metabolic activity and physiology of both cells are shaped by this coexistence. We believe that where this appreciation has greatest significance is in the field of drug discovery. Evolution rewards efficiency, and recent data from many groups discussed in this review indicate that M. tuberculosis has evolved to utilize the environmental cues within its host to control large genetic programs or regulons. But these regulons may represent chinks in the bacterium's armor because they include off-target effects, such as the constraint of the metabolic plasticity of M. tuberculosis. A prime example is how the presence of cholesterol within the host cell appears to limit the ability of M. tuberculosis to fully utilize or assimilate other carbon sources. And that is the reason for the title of this review. We believe firmly that, to understand the physiology of M. tuberculosis and to identify new drug targets, it is imperative that the bacterium be interrogated within the context of its host cell. The constraints induced by the environmental cues present within the host cell need to be preserved and exploited. The M. tuberculosis-infected macrophage truly is the "minimal unit of infection."