Cellular iron levels are closely monitored by iron regulatory and sensor proteins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis for survival inside macrophages. One such class of proteins systematically studied in eukaryotes and reported in a few prokaryotes are the iron-responsive proteins (IRPs). These IRPs bind to iron-responsive elements (IREs) present at untranslated regions (UTRs) of mRNAs and are respon...

The ESX-1 secretion system of Mycobacterium tuberculosis delivers bacterial virulence factors to host cells during infection. most abundant factor, the ESAT-6/CFP-10 dimer, is targeted for via a C-terminal signal sequence on CFP-10 that recognized by cytosolic ATPase, Rv3871. ATPase component system. ESX locus contains genes encoding conserved machinery components termed EccCb1. these core are ...

Membrane-associated proteins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis offer a challenge, as well as an opportunity, in the quest for better therapeutic and prophylactic interventions against tuberculosis. The authors have previously reported that extraction with the detergent Triton X-114 (TX-114) is a useful step in proteomic analysis of mycobacterial cell membranes, and detergent-soluble membrane protei...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the causative agent of the disease, tuberculosis and H37Rv is the most studied clinical strain. We use comparative genome analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and human for the identification of potential targets dataset. We used DEG (Database of Essential Genes) to identify essential genes in the H37Rv strain. The analysis shows that 628 of the 3989 genes ...

The prediction for the unknown proteins from Mycobacterium tuberculosis KZN 1435 were carried out for characterization of the proteins in their respective families. In Mycobacterium tuberculosis KZN 1435 out of 1560 genes for hypothetical proteins, functions were predicted for 1221 hypothetical protein whereas, structures for 803 unknown proteins were revealed. The Bioinformatics web tools like...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the primary etiologic agent of tuberculosis, is the world's leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, and new vaccines and drugs to combat it are urgently needed. The major extracellular proteins of M. tuberculosis, which are released into its phagosome in macrophages, its host cells in humans, are leading candidates for a vaccine and prime targets for n...

Tuberculosis (TB), the leading cause of death among infectious diseases worldwide, is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). Early accurate diagnosis means earlier prevention, treatment and control of TB. To confirm efficient diagnostic antigens for M. tuberculosis, the serodiagnosis value of four recombinant proteins including Rv0220, Rv2958c, Rv2994 and Rv3347c was evaluated ...

Background: Macrophage immune responses are affected by the secretory proteins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). This study aimed to examine the immune responses of macrophages to Mtb secretory antigens, namely ESAT-6, CFP-10, and ESAT-6/CFP-10.Methods: THP-1 cells (a human monocytic cell line) were cultured and differentiated to macrophages by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. The cytotoxici...

Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are a diverse set of proteins that mediate the correct folding, assembly, transport and degradation of other proteins. The Hsps have thus appropriately been termed as molecular chaperones. The 60kDa heat shock proteins (Hsp60s) form a sub-group of Hsps and are found to exist in all domains of life. In bacteria Hsp60s are encoded by the essential hsp60 genes arranged o...

A critical element of tuberculosis control is early and sensitive diagnosis of infection and disease. Our laboratories recently showed that different stages of disease were distinguishable via two-dimensional Western blot analyses of Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture filtrate proteins. However, this methodology is not suitable for high throughput testing. Advances in protein microarray technol...