Abstract
The presence of dormant tubercle bacilli presents a major problem for tuberculosis treatment. The culture supernatant of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was previously shown to resuscitate dormant bacilli in vitro. Here we report identification of active components as phospholipids and a tuberculosis protein Rv1174c. Remarkably, dormant bacilli from a one year old culture which failed to form any colonies could be resuscitated with peptides derived from Rv1174c and formed 105-7 colonies/ml. This finding represents the first unambiguous demonstration of resuscitation of dormant tubercle bacilli in vitro and may have implication for the study of mycobacterial dormancy and the design of novel strategies for improved treatment of tuberculosis.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 542-547 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications |
Volume | 284 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2001 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biophysics
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology