Role of Deoxyribose Catabolism in Colonization of the Murine Intestine by Pathogenic Escherichia coli Strains

We previously suggested that the ability to metabolize deoxyribose, a phenotype encoded by the deoK operon, is associated with the pathogenic potential of Escherichia coli strains. Carbohydrate metabolism is thought to provide the nutritional support required for E. coli to colonize the intestine. W...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Infection and Immunity 2009-04, Vol.77 (4), p.1442-1450
Main Authors: Martinez-Jéhanne, Vanessa, du Merle, Laurence, Bernier-Fébreau, Christine, Usein, Codruta, Gassama-Sow, Amy, Wane, Abdul-Aziz, Gouali, Malika, Damian, Maria, Aïdara-Kane, Awa, Germani, Yves, Fontanet, Arnaud, Coddeville, Bernadette, Guérardel, Yann, Le Bouguénec, Chantal
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Animal models
Animals
Bacterial Infections
Bacteriology
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology
Biological and medical sciences
Carbohydrate metabolism
Colonization
Colony Count, Microbial
Deoxyribose - metabolism
Diarrhea
Diarrhea - microbiology
Digestive tract
DNA
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli - classification
Escherichia coli - genetics
Escherichia coli - metabolism
Escherichia coli - pathogenicity
Escherichia coli Infections - microbiology
Escherichia coli Proteins - genetics
Escherichia coli Proteins - metabolism
Evolution
Feces
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Host-Pathogen Interactions
Humans
Intestine
Intestines - microbiology
Life Sciences
Mice
Microbiology
Miscellaneous
Multivariate analysis
Operon
Operons
Pathogens
Statistical analysis
virulence factors
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We previously suggested that the ability to metabolize deoxyribose, a phenotype encoded by the deoK operon, is associated with the pathogenic potential of Escherichia coli strains. Carbohydrate metabolism is thought to provide the nutritional support required for E. coli to colonize the intestine. We therefore investigated the role of deoxyribose catabolism in the colonization of the gut, which acts as a reservoir, by pathogenic E. coli strains. Molecular and biochemical characterization of 1,221 E. coli clones from various collections showed this biochemical trait to be common in the E. coli species (33.6%). However, multivariate analysis evidenced a higher prevalence of sugar-metabolizing E. coli clones in the stools of patients from countries in which intestinal diseases are endemic. Diarrhea processes frequently involve the destruction of intestinal epithelia, so it is plausible that such clones may be positively selected for in intestines containing abundant DNA, and consequently deoxyribose. Statistical analysis also indicated that symptomatic clinical disorders and the presence of virulence factors specific to extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli were significantly associated with an increased risk of biological samples and clones testing positive for deoxyribose. Using the streptomycin-treated-mouse model of intestinal colonization, we demonstrated the involvement of the deoK operon in gut colonization by two pathogenic isolates (one enteroaggregative and one uropathogenic strain). These results, indicating that deoxyribose availability promotes pathogenic E. coli growth during host colonization, suggest that the acquisition of this trait may be an evolutionary step enabling these pathogens to colonize and persist in the mammalian intestine.
ISSN:0019-9567
1098-5522
DOI:10.1128/IAI.01039-08