The adaptation to nutrient depletion in bacteria involves
a highly organized series of intracellular events that enable
them to adapt to starvation conditions. The regulatory
effect of serine threonine protein kinase, PknL, from
Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37Rv was investigated
under nutrient deprived conditions that simulate circumstances
leading to latency. Recombinant PknL was expressed
in Mycobacterium smegmatis strain mc2155 in its
wild type and mutant forms. In vitro growth kinetics experiments
revealed that clone expressing active PknL had
a significant growth advantage under nutrient limiting
conditions. Experiments were conducted to ascertain the
in silico predictions of the involvement of PknL in regulating
glutamine metabolism in mycobacteria. Furthermore,
a role for PknL in cell wall biogenesis/cell division
was shown by scanning electron microscopy