Mycolicibacterium smegmatis possesses operational agmatinase but contains no detectable polyamines.

Background Polyamines are widespread intracellular molecules able to influence antibiotic susceptibility, but almost nothing is known on their occurrence and physiological role in mycobacteria. Methods here, we analyzed transcriptomic, proteomic and biochemical data and obtained the first evidence for the post-transcriptional expression of some genes attributed to polyamine metabolism and polyamine transport in Mycolicibacterium smegmatis (basionym Mycobacterium smegmatis). Results in our experiments, exponentially growing cells demonstrated transcription of 21 polyamine-associated genes and possessed 7 enzymes of polyamine metabolism and 2 polyamine transport proteins. Conclusion Mycolicibacterium smegmatis putrescine synthesizing enzyme agmatinase SpeB was originally shown to catalyze agmatine conversion to putrescine in vitro. Nevertheless, we have not found any polyamines in mycobacterial cells.