Rv0500A is a transcription factor that links Mycobacterium tuberculosis environmental response with division and impacts host colonization

The purpose of this study was to identify genes that are differentially expressed upon rv0500A deletion, to reveal the impact of Rv0500A on global transcription in different environmental conditions. Mtb strain Erdman wild type (WT), ∆rv0500A, and rv0500A* (complemented mutant) were grown to mid-log phase (OD600 ~ 0.6) in standing, filter-capped T-75 flasks, then subcultured to an OD600 of 0.3 in standing, filter-capped T-25 flasks in either 7H9, pH 7 media, or 7H9, pH 5.7 media supplemented with 250 mM NaCl. Exposure to the different media conditions was for 4 hours in a humidified, 37°C, 5% CO2 incubator before RNA was extracted. RNA was prepared by removing the rRNA and library prepping with an Illumina Stranded Total RNA with Ribo-Zero Plus kit, before high-throughput sequencing with an Illumina HiSeq 2500 (High Output v4) (100 bp single end reads, one lane). Two biological samples per condition were sequenced.