Phosphorylation Signaling in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis: an Overview

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), as observed in other pathogenic bacteria, utilizes signal transduction pathways dependent on the protein phosphorylation−dephosphorylation events to regulate its own metabolic processes but also to modulate and surrogate its host (macrophage) signal transduction−dependent defenses. In this review, we focus on the dominant phosphorylation pathways found in Mtb that are already described at the levels of genes and proteins, as well as their catalytic activity. Many of the systems we describe are the focus of intensive medicinal chemistry approaches to identify strategies to combat tuberculosis, with a special emphasis that will be dedicated to two important phosphatases secreted by Mtb: PtpA and PtpB.