Global Transcriptional Profile of Mycobacterium tuberculosisduring THP-1 Human Macrophage Infection

ABSTRACTDuring lung infection, Mycobacterium tuberculosisresides in macrophages and subverts the bactericidal mechanisms of these professional phagocytes. Comprehension of this host-pathogen relationship is fundamental for the development of new therapies to cure and prevent tuberculosis. In this work, we analyzed the transcriptional profile of M. tuberculosisinfecting human macrophage-like THP-1 cells in order to identify putative bacterial pathogenic factors that can be relevant for the intracellular survival of M. tuberculosis.We compared the gene expression profile of M. tuberculosisH37Rv after 4 h and 24 h of infection of human macrophage-like THP-1 cells with the gene expression profile of the strain growing exponentially in broth cultures. We found 585 genes expressed differentially by intracellular M. tuberculosis. An analysis of the gene expression profile of M. tuberculosisinside THP-1 cells suggests the perturbation of the cell envelope as a major intracellular stress inside THP-1 macrophages.