When and where? Pathogenic Escherichia coli differentially sense host D-serine using a universal transporter system to monitor their environment
Authors:James P. R. Connolly and Andrew J. Roe
Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK.
Keywords:
E. coli, D-serine, regulation, virulence, type III secretion, sensing, niche adaptation.
Related Article(s)?
Connolly JP, Gabrielsen M, Goldstone RJ, Grinter R, Wang D, Cogdell RJ, Walker D, Smith DG, Roe AJ (2016). A Highly Conserved Bacterial D-Serine Uptake System Links Host Metabolism and Virulence. PLoS Pathog 12(1): e1005359. , 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005359
Corresponding Author(s):
Conflict of interest statement:
The authors declare that no competing interest exists.
Please cite this article as:
James P. R. Connolly and Andrew J. Roe (2016). When and where? Pathogenic Escherichia coli differentially sense host D-serine using a universal transporter system to monitor their environment. Microbial Cell 3(4): 181-184. doi: 10.15698/mic2016.04.494
© 2016 Connolly and Roe. This is an open-access article released under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows the unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are acknowledged.
Abstract:
Sensing environmental stimuli is critically important for bacteria when faced with the multitude of adversities presented within the host. Responding appropriately to these signals and in turn integrating these responses into the regulatory network of the cell allows bacteria to control precisely when and where they should establish colonization. D-serine is an abundant metabolite of the human urinary tract but is a toxic metabolite for Escherichia coli that lack a D-serine tolerance locus. Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) cannot catabolize D-serine for this reason and colonize the large intestine specifically, an environment low in D-serine. EHEC can however use D-serine sensing to repress colonization thus signaling the presence of an unfavorable environment. In our recent work (Connolly, et al. PLoS Pathogens (2016) 12(1): e1005359), we describe the discovery of a functional and previously uncharacterized D-serine uptake system in E. coli. The genes identified are highly conserved in all E. coli lineages but are regulated differentially in unique pathogenic backgrounds. The study identified that EHEC, counter-intuitively, increase D-serine uptake in its presence but that this is a tolerated process and is used to increase the transcriptional response to this signal. It was also found that the system has been integrated into the transcriptional network of EHEC-specific virulence genes, demonstrating an important pathotype-specific adaptation of core genome components.
doi: 10.15698/mic2016.04.494
Volume 3, pp. 181 to 184, published 31/03/2016.