Biosynthesis and Roles of Phenolic Glycolipids and Related Molecules in<i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i>

TL;DRAbstract

Phenolic glycolipids (PGLs) consist of a conserved lipid core and a variable carbohydrate moiety; the lipid core is composed of a family of long-chain ß-diols, phenolphthiocerol, and related molecules. The structure of the backbone of PGLs and the related DIMs was established more than 30 years ago, but their synthesis remained elusive until the last decade. Early work by Gastambide-Odier and colleagues to decipher the phthiocerol and phenolphthiocerol biosynthesis pathway were based on metabolic labeling either with [1- or 3-14C] propionate or with [14C] methionine, followed by chemical degradation and tracing the radioactivity. DIM and PGL share a common lipid core synthesized by the same enzymatic machinery, but unlike PGL, DIM has no saccharide domain. The gene drrC encodes an integral membrane protein predicted to be part of an ABC transporter involving two other subunits encoded by genes drrA and drrB mapping upstream from drrC. Unlike DIM, which have been found in all clinical i

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