Mechanistic insights into the allosteric regulation of cell wall hydrolase RipA inMycobacterium tuberculosis

D,L-endopeptidase RipA is the major PG hydrolase required for daughter cell separation inMycobacterium tuberculosis(Mtb), as RipA defects severely hinder cell division and increase antibiotic vulnerability. Despite extensive studies, the mechanisms governingMtbRipA regulation remain controversial and poorly understood. Here, we report an integrative structural and functional analysis of the SteAB system, a regulatory complex that has been shown to modulate cell separation in the model organismCorynebacterium glutamicum(Cglu) and is conserved acrossMycobacteriales. AlthoughMtbSteB was previously proposed to act as a mycobacterial outer membrane copper transporter, the crystal structures of the homodimeric protein, alone and in complex with the RipA coiled-coil (CC) domain, rule out this hypothesis. Instead, the high-affinity SteB-RipA interaction, together with computational and biophysical data, strongly supports the role of SteB as a direct RipA activator that releases enzyme autoinhibition upon complex formation. In addition, crystallographic characterization of the cytoplasmic core of SteA revealed a homodimeric organization harboring a conserved functional pocket similar to the phosphonucleotide-binding site of thiamine pyrophosphokinase. These data, coupled with thein vivophenotypic analysis of asteABknockout mutant ofCglu, support a model in which the transmembrane SteAB heterotetramer, driven by cytoplasmic ligand binding, orchestrates the productive periplasmic positioning of RipA, leading to PG hydrolysis activation. These findings shed new light on the regulation of mycobacterial cell wall remodeling, with implications for understandingMtbpathogenesis and identifying novel antimicrobial targets.