Abstract
ABSTRACTEnterococcus faecalis is paradoxically a dangerous nosocomial pathogen and a normal constituent of the human gut microbiome, an environment rich in ethanolamine. E. faecalis carries the eut (ethanolamine utilization) genes, which enable the catabolism of ethanolamine (EA) as a valuable source of carbon and/or nitrogen. EA catabolism was previously shown to contribute to the colonization and growth of enteric pathogens, such as Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), in the gut environment. We tested the ability of eut mutants of E. faecalis to colonize the gut using a murine model of gastrointestinal (GI) tract competition and report the surprising observation that these mutants outcompete the wild-type strain.
Highlights
Enterococcus faecalis is paradoxically a dangerous nosocomial pathogen and a normal constituent of the human gut microbiome, an environment rich in ethanolamine
The genes that code for the catabolism of this compound, the eut genes, are associated with gut pathogens, including species of Escherichia, Salmonella, Clostridium, and Listeria [3]
In species such as Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), mutants lacking the ability to sense and/or catabolize EA are outcompeted by wild-type strains in the gastrointestinal tract [1, 2, 4] or display neutral colonization efficacy in the case of Clostridium difficile [5]
Summary
Garsina,d aDepartment of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA bDepartment of Internal Medicine, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA cDepartment of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA dThe UT Center for Antimicrobial Resistance and Microbial Genomics, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA
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