Rajesh Jayachandran

Survival of mycobacteria in macrophages is mediated by coronin 1-dependent activation of calcineurin.

Pathogenic mycobacteria survive within macrophages by avoiding lysosomal delivery, instead residing in mycobacterial phagosomes. Upon infection, the leukocyte-specific protein coronin 1 is actively recruited to mycobacterial phagosomes, where it blocks lysosomal delivery by an unknown mechanism. Analysis of macrophages from coronin 1-deficient mice showed that coronin 1 is dispensable for F-actin-dependent processes such as phagocytosis, motility, and membrane ruffling. However, upon mycobacterial infection, coronin 1 was required for activation of the Ca(2+)-dependent phosphatase calcineurin, thereby blocking lysosomal delivery of mycobacteria. In the absence of coronin 1, calcineurin activity did not occur, resulting in lysosomal delivery and killing of mycobacteria. Furthermore, blocking calcineurin activation with cyclosporin A or FK506 led to lysosomal delivery and intracellular mycobacterial killing. These results demonstrate a role for coronin 1 in activating Ca(2+) dependent signaling processes in macrophages and reveal a function for calcineurin in the regulation of phagosome-lysosome fusion upon mycobacterial infection.

Regulation of T cell survival through coronin-1–mediated generation of inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate and calcium mobilization after T cell receptor triggering

T cell homeostasis is essential for the functioning of the vertebrate immune system, but the intracellular signals required for T cell homeostasis are largely unknown. We here report that the WD-repeat protein family member coronin-1, encoded by the gene Coro1a, is essential in the mouse for T cell survival through its promotion of Ca2+ mobilization from intracellular stores. Upon T cell receptor triggering, coronin-1 was essential for the generation of inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate from phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate. The absence of coronin-1, although it did not affect T cell development, resulted in a profound defect in Ca2+ mobilization, interleukin-2 production, T cell proliferation and T cell survival. We conclude that coronin-1, through activation of Ca2+ release from intracellular stores, is an essential regulator of peripheral lymphocyte survival.

Structural basis for the specific inhibition of protein kinase G, a virulence factor of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The pathogenicity of mycobacteria such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis is closely associated with their capacity to survive within host macrophages. A crucial virulence factor for intracellular mycobacterial survival is protein kinase G (PknG), a eukaryotic-like serine/threonine protein kinase expressed by pathogenic mycobacteria that blocks the intracellular degradation of mycobacteria in lysosomes. Inhibition of PknG with the highly selective low-molecular-weight inhibitor AX20017 results in mycobacterial transfer to lysosomes and killing of the mycobacteria. Here, we report the 2.4 Å x-ray crystal structure of PknG in complex with AX20017. The unique multidomain topology of PknG reveals a central kinase domain that is flanked by N- and C-terminal rubredoxin and tetratrico-peptide repeat domains, respectively. Directed mutagenesis suggests that the rubredoxin domain functions as a regulator of PknG kinase activity. The structure of PknG-AX20017 further reveals that the inhibitor is buried deep within the adenosine-binding site, targeting an active conformation of the kinase domain. Remarkably, although the topology of the kinase domain is reminiscent of eukaryotic kinases, the AX20017-binding pocket is shaped by a unique set of amino acid side chains that are not found in any human kinase. Directed mutagenesis of the unique set of residues resulted in a drastic loss of the compounds inhibitory potency. Our results explain the specific mode of action of AX20017 and demonstrate that virulence factors highly homologous to host molecules can be successfully targeted to block the proliferation of M. tuberculosis.

On guard: coronin proteins in innate and adaptive immunity

Recent work has implicated members of the evolutionarily conserved family of coronin proteins — in particular coronin 1 — in immune homeostasis. Coronins are involved in processes as diverse as pathogen survival in phagocytes and homeostatic T cell signalling. Notably, in both mice and humans, coronin mutations are associated with immune deficiencies and resistance to autoimmunity. In this article, we review what is currently known about these conserved molecules and discuss a potential common mechanism that underlies their diverse activities, which seem to involve cytoskeletal interactions as well as calcium–calcineurin signalling.

Coronin 1 regulates cognition and behavior through modulation of cAMP/protein kinase A signaling.

The evolutionarily conserved protein coronin 1 is needed for activating the cyclic AMP signaling pathway in the brain and is important for cognition and behavior.

Elimination of intracellularly residing Mycobacterium tuberculosis through targeting of host and bacterial signaling mechanisms

With more than 2 billion latently infected people, TB continues to represent a serious threat to human health. According to the WHO, 1.1 million people died from TB in 2010, which is equal to approximately 3000 deaths per day. The causative agent of the disease, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is a highly successful pathogen having evolved remarkable strategies to persist within the host. Although normally, upon phagocytosis by macrophages, bacteria are readily eliminated by lysosomes, pathogenic mycobacteria actively prevent destruction within macrophages. The strategies that pathogenic mycobacteria apply range from releasing virulence factors to manipulating host molecules resulting in the modulation of host signal transduction pathways in order to sustain their viability within the infected host. Here, we analyze the current status of how a better understanding of both the bacterial and host factors involved in virulence can be used to develop drugs that may be helpful to curb the TB epidemic.

Exploring prospects of novel drugs for tuberculosis

Tuberculosis remains a disease with an enormous impact on public health worldwide. With the continuously increasing epidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis, new drugs are desperately needed. However, even for the treatment of drug-sensitive tuberculosis, new drugs are required to shorten the treatment duration and thereby prevent development of drug resistance. Within the past ten years, major advances in tuberculosis drug research have been made, leading to a considerable number of antimycobacterial compounds which are now in the pipeline. Here we discuss a number of these novel promising tuberculosis drugs, as well as the discovery of two new potential drug targets for the development of novel effective drugs to curb the tuberculosis pandemic, ie, the coronin 1 and protein kinase G pathways. Protein kinase G is secreted by mycobacteria and is responsible for blocking lysosomal delivery within the macrophage. Coronin 1 is responsible for activating the phosphatase, calcineurin, and thereby preventing phagosome-lysosome fusion within the macrophage. Blocking these two pathways may lead to rapid killing of mycobacteria.

Regulation of immune cell homeostasis and function by coronin 1.

Coronin 1 is the most recent candidate in the list of genes causing severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) in humans. A distinctive feature of the SCID induced by coronin 1 deficiency is selective naïve T cell lymphopenia in the presence of a normal thymus as well as normal B cell and natural killer cell numbers (T(-)B(+)NK(+)). Coronin 1 is a member of the evolutionarily conserved coronin protein family, members of which are widely expressed across the eukaryotic kingdom. Mammals express seven coronin molecules, numbered from coronin 1 to 7. The different coronin proteins have a distinct but overlapping tissue expression and have been reported to be involved in a wide array of cellular functions including calcium homeostasis, cytoskeletal dynamics, immune and inflammatory responses, neuromuscular transmission as well as cognition and behavior. In this minireview, we describe the role of coronin 1 in the maintenance of immune cell diversity and function.

Analyzing the interaction of pathogens with the host immune system

Infectious diseases continue to represent a great burden to human society, being responsible for approximately 14 to 16 million deaths annually. Today, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, remains one of the most important infectious agents. Moreover, with the emergence of multi drug and extensive drug resistant strains of M. tuberculosis, there is a great need for a better understanding of the virulence strategies utilized by this pathogen. In this manuscript, we discuss some of the strategies that have been followed to unravel virulence mechanisms utilized by M. tuberculosis. Knowledge of these mechanisms is important to reveal potential targets that may be useful for the development of compounds to treat tuberculosis.

Activation of the cAMP/protein kinase A signalling pathway by coronin 1 is regulated by cyclin‐dependent kinase 5 activity

Coronins constitute a family of conserved proteins expressed in all eukaryotes that have been implicated in the regulation of a wide variety of cellular activities. Recent work showed an essential role for coronin 1 in the modulation of the cAMP/PKA pathway in neurons through the interaction of coronin 1 with the G protein subtype Gαs in a stimulus‐dependent manner, but the molecular mechanism regulating coronin 1‐Gαs interaction remains unclear. We here show that phosphorylation of coronin 1 on Thr418/424 by cyclin‐dependent kinase (CDK) 5 activity was responsible for coronin 1‐Gαs association and the modulation of cAMP production. Together these results show an essential role for CDK5 activity in promoting the coronin 1‐dependent cAMP/PKA pathway.