Reengineering Redox Sensitive GFP to Measure Mycothiol Redox Potential of Mycobacterium tuberculosis during Infection

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) survives under oxidatively hostile environments encountered inside host phagocytes. To protect itself from oxidative stress, Mtb produces millimolar concentrations of mycothiol (MSH), which functions as a major cytoplasmic redox buffer. Here, we introduce a novel system for real-time imaging of mycothiol redox potential (E-MSH) within Mtb cells during infection. We demonstrate that coupling of Mtb MSH-dependent oxidoreductase (mycoredoxin-1; Mrx1) to redox-sensitive GFP (roGFP2; Mrx1-roGFP2) allowed measurement of dynamic changes in intramycobacterial E-MSH with unprecedented sensitivity and specificity. Using Mrx1-roGFP2, we report the first quantitative measurements of E-MSH in diverse mycobacterial species, genetic mutants, and drug-resistant patient isolates. These cellular studies reveal, for the first time, that the environment inside macrophages and sub-vacuolar compartments induces heterogeneity in E-MSH of the Mtb population. Further application of this new biosensor demonstrates that treatment of Mtb infected macrophage with anti-tuberculosis (TB) drugs induces oxidative shift in E-MSH, suggesting that the intramacrophage milieu and antibiotics cooperatively disrupt the MSH homeostasis to exert efficient Mtb killing. Lastly, we analyze the membrane integrity of Mtb cells with varied E-MSH during infection and show that subpopulation with higher E-MSH are susceptible to clinically relevant antibiotics, whereas lower E-MSH promotes antibiotic tolerance. Together, these data suggest the importance of MSH redox signaling in modulating mycobacterial survival following treatment with anti-TB drugs. We anticipate that Mrx1-roGFP2 will be a major contributor to our understanding of redox biology of Mtb and will lead to novel strategies to target redox metabolism for controlling Mtb persistence. Author Summary Approximately 30% of the global population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Persistence of Mtb in host phagocytes depends on its ability to resist oxidant-mediated antibacterial responses. Mycothiol (MSH) is the main antioxidant that provides an abundant source of reducing equivalent, which protects Mtb from oxidative stress encountered during infection. The majority of research into redox signaling in Mtb has relied on chemical analysis of MSH in whole cell extract, which creates oxidation artifacts and prohibits dynamic imaging of MSH redox state during infection. We have successfully developed a novel and noninvasive tool based on genetically encoded redox sensitive fluorescent probes to perform real-time measurement of mycothiol redox potential (E-MSH) in Mtb during infection. For the first time we reveal the E-MSH of virulent and avirulent mycobacterial strains, including drug-resistant clinical isolates. We used this technology and came to the surprising conclusion that within a single infected macrophage there is heterogeneity in the redox signature of individual Mtb bacilli. Importantly, we show that anti-TB drugs accelerate oxidative stress in Mtb within infected macrophages and redox heterogeneity can contribute to emergence of drug tolerant population. These findings have implications for mycobacterial persistence following treatment with anti-TB drugs.