Abstract
Pyrazinamide (PZA) is an essential first line antitubercular drug, which plays a crucial role in tuberculosis treatment. The PZA, which is considered as a pro-drug needs an enzyme of mycobacterial pyrazinamidase (PZase) for its conversion into an active form pyrazinoic acid. Further, this active form of PZA inhibits the ribosomal proteins S1, which facilitates the transfer-mRNA complex formation throughout the translation. The spontaneous mutations in RpsA have been found to be associated with PZA drug resistance. However, the drug resistance mechanism is still unclear. Furthermore, there is no such information available about the structural dynamics of RpsA protein because of mutations that confer Pyrazinoic acid resistance. Moreover, a total of 18 clinical PZA-resistant isolates were investigated and found to be pncAWT, which allowed exploration of the resistance mechanism of RpsA in the mutated state. Samples were repeated for the drug susceptibility testing followed by RpsA gene sequencing. A total of 11 clinical isolates harbored a total of 15 mutations. Almost half of the total strains (7/15) were observed to be in the conserved region of RpsA and known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis C-terminal domain. In the current study, (2/7) mutation T370P (mutant 1) and W403G (mutant 2) were explored to ensure the RpsA resistance mechanism through essential dynamics simulation. The essential dynamics study results revealed that the distal loop mutations drastically altered the conformation of RpsA both in the absence (-) and presence (+) of pyrazinoic acid drug for two reasons: (1) dramatic alteration or reduction in the binding pattern of pyrazinoic acid with active site residues observed and (2) a clear image of the opening and closing switching mechanism was seen upon the distal site mutation on nearby 310-helixes beside the pyrazinoic acid binding site. This switch was found to consistently remain closed only in wild type systems, while it was open in the mutant systems. We called such distance impact an "allosteric effect." The overall mechanistic investigations will provide useful information behind drug resistance for better understanding to manage tuberculosis.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
