The dynamic region of the peptidoglycan synthase gene, Rv0050, induces the growth rate and morphologic heterogeneity in Mycobacteria

Abstract Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infections rely on continued growth and division. Despite the substantial global burden of tuberculosis, the underlying mechanism governing growth is incompletely understood. Bifunctional penicillin-binding protein (PBP1), encoded by Rv0050 (ponA1) of MTB, is a key peptidoglycan synthase and plays a central role in mycobacterial growth and division by its interaction with Rpf-interacting protein A (RipA, peptidoglycan endopeptidase). Our previous work suggested that the hyper-variable proline repeats are located at the N end of PBP1. In this study, we prove that altered secondary structure resulting from polymorphic proline repeats modulates the interaction between PBP1 and RipA. Without proper coordination of peptidoglycan synthase and hydrolase, cell elongation and division is also altered resulting in phenotypic changes in the population as indicated by altered dispersion, slowed growth, or shortened cell length. Together, our data reveal that polymorphisms in Rv0050 induce mycobacterial growth and morphologic changes, and hence are responsible for giving bacteria their shape.