Mycoplasma genitalium membrane lipoprotein induces GAPDH malonylation in urethral epithelial cells to regulate cytokine response

Abstract

Membrane lipoproteins serve as primary pro-inflammatory virulence factors in Mycoplasma genitalium. Membrane lipoproteins primarily induce inflammatory responses by activating Toll-like Receptor 2 (TLR2); however, the role of the metabolic status of urethral epithelial cells in inflammatory response remains unclear. In this study, we found that treatment of uroepithelial cell lines with M. genitalium membrane lipoprotein induced metabolic reprogramming, characterized by increased aerobic glycolysis, decreased oxidative phosphorylation, and increased production of the metabolic intermediates acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA. The metabolic shift induced by membrane lipoproteins is reversible upon blocking MyD88 and TRAM. Malonyl-CoA induces malonylation of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), and malonylated GAPDH could dissociate from the 3′ untranslated region of TNF-α and IFN-γ mRNA. This dissociation greatly reduces the inhibitory effect on the translation of TNF-α and IFN-γ mRNA, thus achieving fine-tuning control over cytokine secretion. These findings suggest that GAPDH malonylation following M. genitalium infection is an important inflammatory signal that plays a crucial role in urogenital inflammatory diseases.