Mycobacterium tuberculosis virulence‐regulator PhoP interacts with alternative sigma factor SigE during acid‐stress response

What is it about?

The ability of M. tuberculosis to thrive in acidic environment is key to its success as an intracellular pathogen. Thus, we examined whether the virulence regulator PhoP, which has been implicated in M. tuberculosis pH homeostasis, cooperates functionally with the mycobacterial transcription machinery. We show that (a) PhoP specifically interacts with one of the acid-inducible sigma factors SigE and (b) PhoP-SigE interaction represents a major requirement for the global acid stress response.

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