The Latent Phase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis - NanoBiology Course 2021 - Tuesday Group

In this video students of the Maastricht Science Program NanoBiology Course 2021, show their explanation of the Latent Phase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Using CellPAINT, UCFS Chimera and their creativity they explain the nanobiology of tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by a bacterium: Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. It is an important human pathogen: up to the current covid19 pandemic, TB was the world's most deadly disease caused by a human pathogen. Whereas a virus is not a living thing and has a relatively simple genome - the virus SARS-CoV-2, for example, only codes for 29 proteins - mycobacteria are living prokaryotes with (in case of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis H37Rv) a genome that encodes for a total of 3993 proteins.

Tuberculosis (TB) infection happens in 4 stages: the initial macrophage response, the growth stage, the immune control stage, and the lung cavitation stage. Our immune system will try to attack the mycobacteria, however, it will rarely succeed to eliminate all mycobacteria. Mycobacteria can hide themselves in a latent stage, a bit like bears can hibernate in winter. Several stimuli are thought to prevail during latent TB, including local hypoxia, nitric oxide and carbon monoxide. Mycobacteria have a group of genes, a regulon, that is controlled by a signal transduction system. This 'dormancy' regulon controls the expression of genes that allow the bacteria to use alternative energy sources, in particular lipids. Mycobacteria have evolved such a specific mechanisms to adopt a state of latency. This latent stage can last very long, and most humans become asymptomatic and do not shed bacteria in this phase. What are the molecular mechanisms used by mycobacteria to get into this phase? Can some of the drugs that we use to treat TB be used specifically in this stage? Or could we identify unique molecular mechanisms characteristic of this phase to sterilise our body from all mycobacteria?

At some moment, for instance when the immune system is weakened, eg via an HIV infection, the bacteria could reactive. During reactivation, TB undergoes transition from latent infection to active, progressive, transmissible disease. Which genes are involved in this reactivation and how could we possibly interfere with this process?

Видео The Latent Phase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis - NanoBiology Course 2021 - Tuesday Group канала Maastricht4Imaging