One third of the world’s population is estimated to be infected with a dormant TB infection. M. tuberculosis survives within this dormant state by engulfing host cell lipid bodies and then accumulating significant intracellular stores of lipids. Among the proteins required for lipid metabolism in M. tuberculosis are a significant number of uncharacterized enzymes predicted to encode serine hydrolases and specifically lipases. Using a streamlined synthetic method, a library of hydrolase substrates based on acyloxy methyl ether fluorescein were expanded to better represent the natural lipodomic diversity of Mycobacterium. This expanded fluorogenic library was then used to rapidly characterize the global substrate specificity of mycobacterial serine hydrolases. Conformation of fluorogenic substrate activation by mycobacterial serine hydrolases was performed using nonspecific serine hydrolase inhibitors. The hydrolases responsible for the global substrate specificity of one highly active fluorogenic substrate were then isolated using a combination of native protein gel-resolved activity measurements and mass spectrometry identification. Using the highly activated fluorogenic substrates, future work will compare the serine hydrolase profiles between normal and dormant growth conditions to identify differential expressed hydrolases.

Global substrate specificity of mycobacterial serine hydrolases

254th National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.