Shrinking the FadE Proteome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Insights into Cholesterol Metabolism through Identification of an α 2 β 2 Heterotetrameric Acyl Coenzyme A Dehydrogenase Family

Abstract

ABSTRACT The ability of the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis to metabolize steroids like cholesterol and the roles that these compounds play in the virulence and pathogenesis of this organism are increasingly evident. Here, we demonstrate through experiments and bioinformatic analysis the existence of an architecturally distinct subfamily of acyl coenzyme A (acyl-CoA) dehydrogenase (ACAD) enzymes that are α 2 β 2 heterotetramers with two active sites. These enzymes are encoded by two adjacent ACAD ( fadE ) genes that are regulated by cholesterol. FadE26-FadE27 catalyzes the dehydrogenation of 3β-hydroxy-chol-5-en-24-oyl-CoA, an analog of the 5-carbon side chain cholesterol degradation intermediate. Genes encoding the α 2 β 2 heterotetrameric ACAD structures are present in multiple regions of the M. tuberculosis genome, and subsets of these genes are regulated by four different transcriptional repressors or activators: KstR1 (also known as KstR), KstR2, Mce3R, and SigE. Homologous ACAD gene pairs are found in other Actinobacteria , as well as Proteobacteria . Their structures and genomic locations suggest that the α 2 β 2 heterotetrameric structural motif has evolved to enable catalysis of dehydrogenation of steroid- or polycyclic-CoA substrates and that they function in four subpathways of cholesterol metabolism.