Glucose Metabolism via the Entner-Doudoroff Pathway in Campylobacter: A Rare Trait that Enhances Survival and Promotes Biofilm Formation in Some Isolates.
Author(s)
Vegge, Christina S
Jansen van Rensburg, Melissa J
Rasmussen, Janus J
Maiden, Martin CJ
Johnsen, Lea G
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Isolates of the zoonotic pathogen Campylobacter are generally considered to be unable to metabolize glucose due to lack of key glycolytic enzymes. However, the Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway has been identified in Campylobacter jejuni subsp. doylei and a few C. coli isolates. A systematic search for ED pathway genes in a wide range of Campylobacter isolates and in the C. jejuni/coli PubMLST database revealed that 1.7% of >6,000 genomes encoded a complete ED pathway, including both C. jejuni and C. coli from diverse clinical, environmental and animal sources. In rich media, glucose significantly enhanced stationary phase survival of a set of ED-positive C. coli isolates. Unexpectedly, glucose massively promoted floating biofilm formation in some of these ED-positive isolates. Metabolic profiling by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed distinct responses to glucose in a low biofilm strain (CV1257) compared to a high biofilm strain (B13117), consistent with preferential diversion of hexose-6-phosphate to polysaccharide in B13117. We conclude that while the ED pathway is rare amongst Campylobacter isolates causing human disease (the majority of which would be of agricultural origin), some glucose-utilizing isolates exhibit specific fitness advantages, including stationary-phase survival and biofilm production, highlighting key physiological benefits of this pathway in addition to energy conservation.
Date Issued
2016-11-22
Date Acceptance
2016-11-08
Citation
Frontiers in Microbiology, 2016, 7
ISSN
1664-302X
Publisher
Frontiers Media
Journal / Book Title
Frontiers in Microbiology
Volume
7
Copyright Statement
© 2016 Vegge, Jansen van Rensburg, Rasmussen, Maiden, Johnsen, Danielsen, MacIntyre, Ingmer and Kelly. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
License URL
Subjects
PubMLST database
capsule
glycolysis
hexose sugar
polysaccharide
stationary-phase
Publication Status
Published online
Article Number
1877