PROTEASES ASSOCIATED WITH Mycobacterium tuberculosis INFECTION

Tuberculosis is a contagious infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, an obligate intracellular bacterium that relies on infection and host to host transmission to survive. In a co-evolution process, the pathogen developed virulence mechanisms to evade the host’s immune system and endure many factors, such as cellular stress for example. One of the strategies used by pathogens to achieve success in their infection is the production of proteases, which are enzymes that cleave peptide bonds between the amino acids in a protein. Proteases are widely distributed in the nature and have different roles that are considered important to the bacteria biological cycle. M. tuberculosis have several protease coding genes in its genome, many of which with unknown function, but several with attributed role in the infection process. This review presents the literature searched between 2014 and 2018 that addressed the roles of the proteases involved in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.