Rv3168 phosphotransferase activity mediates kanamycin resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a worldwide epidemic disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, with an estimated one-third of the human population currently affected. Treatment of this disease with aminoglycoside antibiotics has become less effective owing to antibiotic resistance. Recent determination of the crystal structure of the M. tuberculosis Rv3168 protein suggests a structure similar to that of Enterococcus faecalis APH(3')-IIIa, and that this protein may be an aminoglycoside phosphotransferase. To determine whether Rv3168 confers antibiotic resistance against kanamycin, we performed dose-response antibiotic resistance experiments using kanamycin. Expression of the Rv3168 protein in Escherichia coli conferred antibiotic resistance against 100 μM kanamycin, a concentration that effected cell growth arrest in the parental E. coli strain and an E. coli strain expressing the Rv3168^D249A mutant, in which the catalytic Asp249 residue was mutated to alanine. Furthermore, we detected phosphotransferase activity of Rv3168 against kanamycin as a substrate. Moreover, docking simulation of kanamycin into the Rv3168 structure suggests that kanamycin fits well into the substrate binding pocket of the protein, and that the phosphorylation-hydroxyl-group of kanamycin was located at a position similar to that in E. faecalis APH(3')-IIIa. On the basis of these results, we suggest that the Rv3168 mediates kanamycin resistance in M. tuberculosis, likely through phosphotransferase targeting of kanamycin.