# Cell Envelope Biogenesis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

> **NIH NIH R01** · STATE UNIVERSITY NEW YORK STONY BROOK · 2021 · $358,875

## Abstract

Project Summary
To eradicate tuberculosis (TB), the World Health Organization has proposed reducing TB-related deaths from
>1 million to just 50,000 per year by 2025. This 95% reduction will not be met by current programs. Thus, the
strategic plan to eliminate TB emphasizes the development of new drugs against the causative bacterium,
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). The Mtb cell envelope has thus been the target of many efforts to find novel
anti-TB therapeutics. However, discovery and validation of new targets is hampered by our limited
understanding how the cell envelope is made.
Enzymes that make mycomembrane lipids have been characterized, but the mechanism of subsequent lipid
incorporation into the mycomembrane remains poorly defined. We and others have identified a pathway that is
required for both the transport and the synthesis of diverse mycomembrane lipids.
Based on our published work and preliminary data, we hypothesize that the lipoprotein LprG and membrane
protein Rv1410c play a broad role in mycomembrane biogenesis by mediating a crucial step in transporting
lipids beyond the cytoplasmic membrane and into the mycomembrane. To test this model, we will pursue the
following aims:
(1) Determine how LprG and Rv1410c regulate lipid transport to the mycomembrane and (2) Determine how
LprG-Rv1410c regulates the addition of mycolic acid-bearing virulence factors to the mycomembrane. Our
innovation is to test a novel model for mycomembrane biogenesis and to do so we will leverage our expertise
in mycobacteriology and lipid biochemistry to achieve our long-term goal of understanding lipid transport
processes that enable the mycomembrane to form and contribute to virulence. The successful completion of
these Specific Aims will provide important advances in our understanding of a virulence-associated pathway
that mediates these processes in the Mtb cell envelope.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10239074
- **Project number:** 5R01AI141513-04
- **Recipient organization:** STATE UNIVERSITY NEW YORK STONY BROOK
- **Principal Investigator:** Jessica Chuang Seeliger
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $358,875
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-14 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10239074

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10239074, Cell Envelope Biogenesis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (5R01AI141513-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10239074. Licensed CC0.

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