Mycobacterium tuberculosis ECF sigma factor sigC is required for lethality in mice and for the conditional expression of a defined gene set

Bacterial alternative RNA polymerase sigma factors are key global adaptive response regulators with a likely role in Mycobacterium tuberculosis pathogenesis. We constructed a mutant lacking the sigma factor gene, sigC, by allelic exchange, in the virulent CDC1551 strain of M. tuberculosis and compared the resulting mutant with the isogenic wild-type strain and complemented mutant strain. In vitro, compared to the wild-type and complemented strains, the mutant was found to have similar ability to survive in both murine bone marrow-derived macrophages and activated J774 macrophages. In time-to-death experiments in the mouse model, the ΔsigC mutant was significantly attenuated, causing no death in infected mice whereas the wild-type and complemented strains caused 100% mortality within 235 days after aerosol infection with a median time to death of 170 days. Mouse organ bacterial burdens indicated that the mutant proliferated and persisted at the same level as the wild-type and complemented strains in lung tissue and was able to persist in mice without causing death for >300 days. A complete genomic microarray study demonstrated that SigC modulates the expression of several key virulence-associated genes including hspX, senX3 and mtrA, encoding the α-crystallin homologue, a two-component sensor kinase and a two-component response regulator respectively. Altered expression of a subset of these genes was confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR analysis. Analysis of genes modulated by SigC also revealed a putative consensus DNA recognition sequence for SigC of SSSAAT-N_16-20-CGTSSS (S = C or G). Promoter recognition for one of these genes was confirmed by in vitro transcription analysis after purification of recombinant SigC and reconstitution of an Eσ^c RNA polymerase holoenzyme. These data indicate that the M. tuberculosis transcription factor SigC governs expression of an important M. tuberculosis regulon and is essential for lethality in mice, but is not required for bacterial survival in this species. These observations place the As/gC mutant in a class of M. tuberculosis mutants which persist in tissues but are attenuated in their ability to elicit lethal immunopathology.