Characterisation of Potential Antimicrobial Targets for Tuberculosis. 1. Methionine Adenosyltransferase in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis and M. Smegmatis

摘要

Tuberculosis remains a key concern for the Canadian Forces in its overseas deployments. As drug- resistant forms of the disease continue to spread, there is a need to discover and characterize new drug targets in the organism. The enzyme methionine adenosyltransferase (S-adenosylmethionine synthetase), which catalyzes the formation of S-adenosylmethionine from methionine and ATP, has been cloned, expressed, and characterized in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its common model organism M. Smegmatis. The two gene sequences were both 1200 base pairs in length. and 87% identical with respect to the primary amino acid sequence.