[ODP3C] c. Others

[ODP-036] Existence of extracellular DNA in pathogenic mycobacteria and its role in mycobacterial physiology

○Aleksandr Vladimirovich Ilinov^1,2, Amina Kaboso Shaban¹, Mariko Hakamata¹, Akihito Nishiyama¹, Yuriko Ozeki¹, Yukari Fukusima³, Chie Nakajima³, Yoshitaka Tateishi¹, Yasuhiko Suzuki³, Sohkichi Matsumoto¹ (¹Dept. Bacteriol., Sch. Med. Niigata Univ., ²Dept. General Surgery, Krasnoyarsk Med. Univ., ³Division Bioresources, Hokkaido Univ. Research Center for Zoonosis Control)

Our flow cytometry analysis suggested the presence of extracellular DNA (eDNA) in some pathogenic strains of mycobacteria including Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The destruction of eDNA reduces of mycobacterial growth and enhanced susceptibility to antibiotics, suggesting their important role in mycobacterial survival and drug resistance. Whole DNA comparison by NSG revealed eDNA are almost identical with genomic DNA, suggesting most of eDNA comes from dead bacteria. However interestingly we also found specific region of the genome is accumulated in eDNA, indicating some genomic region are released in an active manner. Our data suggest existence of eDNA on mycobacteria and its importance in mycobacterial physiology.