Sudheer Kumar Singh, Ph.D.
Principal Scientist,Division Of Microbiology
Metabolism of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Fatty acids are thought to be acting as the primary source of carbon and energy for Mycobacterium tuberculosis
(Mtb) and there is not much information about the role of amino acid metabolic pathways, in Mtb’s growth and
survival inside the host. We initiated work on this aspect of Mtb’s metabolism and developed recombinant
strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra and Mycobacterium smegmatis for target development and validation
studies. We have made considerable progress in identifying the role of putative ORFs and some of them have
been functionally/biochemically validated. Our studies with recombinant strains suggest that various metabolic
pathways play considerable role in in-vitro and ex-vivo survival of Mtb. Apart from being metabolic enzymes
they also play key role in other cellular functions (moonlighting proteins) and their deletion/down-regulation
is manifested in multiple ways.
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