LAUSR

Ultraviolet radiation, an effective sterilizing source, rapidly kills the causative organism (Mycobacterium leprae) of leprosy. But, the reasons behind this quick death are not clearly understood. Also, the impact of UV radiation on the antigen(s) which is/are responsible for the survival of this pathogen is still unknown. Many reports have revealed that M. leprae secrets a major immunodominant antigen, namely HSP18, whose chaperone function plays an important role in the growth and survival of this pathogen under various environmental insults. However, the effect of UV radiation on its structure and chaperone function is still unclear. Therefore, we have taken a thorough attempt to understand these two aspects of HSP18 under different UV radiations (UVA/UVB/UVC; doses: 1-50 J/cm2). Our study revealed that its chaperone function is decreased significantly with increasing doses of various UV radiations. These different UV irradiations perturb only its tertiary structure and induce tryptophan and tyrosine photo-oxidation to N-formyl kynurenine, kynurenine and dityrosine. Such photo-oxidation promotes the subunit cross-linking within a HSP18 oligomer, lowers the surface hydrophobicity and thermostability of the protein. All these factors together damage/reduce the chaperone function of HSP18 which may be an important factor behind the rapid death of M. leprae under UV exposure.