Visualizing Pyrazinamide Action by Live Single-Cell Imaging of Phagosome Acidification and Mycobacterium tuberculosis pH Homeostasis

Pierre Santucci (1) , Beren Aylan (1) , Laure Botella (1) , Elliott Bernard (1) , Claudio Bussi (1) , Enrica Pellegrino (1) , Natalia Athanasiadi (1) , Maximiliano Gutierrez (1)

1 The Francis Crick Institute [London]

We still do not completely understand why tuberculosis (TB) treatment requires the combination of several antibiotics for up to 6 months. M. tuberculosis is a facultative intracellular pathogen, and it is still unknown whether heterogenous and dynamic intracellular populations of bacteria in different cellular environments affect antibiotic efficacy. By developing a dual live imaging approach to monitor mycobacterial pH homeostasis, host cell environment, and antibiotic action, we show here that intracellular localization of M. tuberculosis affects the efficacy of one first-line anti-TB drug.

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Pierre Santucci, Beren Aylan, Laure Botella, Elliott Bernard, Claudio Bussi, et al.. Visualizing Pyrazinamide Action by Live Single-Cell Imaging of Phagosome Acidification and Mycobacterium tuberculosis pH Homeostasis. mBio, 2022, 13 (2), ⟨10.1128/mbio.00117-22⟩. ⟨hal-03841554⟩