Phosphorylation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein tyrosine kinase A PtkA by Ser/Thr protein kinases

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), has inflicted about one third of mankind and claims millions of deaths worldwide annually. Signalling plays an important role in Mtb pathogenesis and persistence, and thus represents attractive resource for drug target candidates. Here, we show that protein tyrosine kinase A (PtkA) can be phosphorylated by Mtb endogenous eukaryotic-like Ser/Thr protein kinases (eSTPKs). Kinase assays showed that PknA, PknD, PknF, and PknK can phosphorylate PtkA in dose- and time-dependent manner. Enzyme kinetics suggests that PknA has the highest affinity and enzymatic efficiency towards PtkA. Furthermore, protein-protein interaction assay in surrogate host showed that PtkA interacts with multi-eSTPKs in vivo, including PknA. Lastly, we show that PtkA phosphorylation by eSTPKs occurs on threonine residues and may effect tyrosine phosphorylation levels and thus PtkA activity in vitro. These results demonstrate that PtkA can serve as a substrate to many eSTPKs and suggests that's its activity can be regulated.