DosR-regulon genes induction in Mycobacterium bovis BCG under aerobic conditions.

In this report we demonstrated that under aerobic conditions, Mycobacterium bovis BCG expressing an hsp60-driven second copy of the hypoxia-related transcriptional regulator DosR increased 2-fold or greater the expression of 38 out of the 48 genes belonging to the DosR regulon, including the latency antigens Rv1733c, Rv2029, Rv2627, and Rv2628. Expression of DosR under these conditions slightly delayed in vitro growth, but did not promote a non-replicating state as opposed to microaerobic and hypoxic adaptation. Our results suggest BCG producing DosR can be cultured under standard in vitro conditions, allowing evaluation of this strain as a latency-specific vaccine candidate.