Abstract
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) caused by Escherichia coli create a large burden on healthcare and frequently lead to recurrent infections. Part of the success of E. coli as an uropathogenic bacterium can be attributed to its ability to form quiescent intracellular reservoirs in bladder cells and its persistence after antibiotic treatment. Cranberry juice and related products have been used for the prevention of UTIs with varying degrees of success. In this study, a group of cranberry pectic oligosaccharides (cPOS) were found to both inhibit quiescence and reduce the population of persister cells formed by the uropathogenic strain, CFT073. This is the first report detailing constituents of cranberry with the ability to modulate these important physiological aspects of uropathogenic E. coli. Further studies investigating cranberry should be keen to include oligosaccharides as part of the ‘active’ cocktail of chemical compounds.
Highlights
Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is responsible for 65–90% of Urinary tract infections (UTIs) cases[2,4,5,6]
The UPEC strain CFT073 demonstrates in vitro quiescence on glucose minimal media agar plates and resumes growth in response to cranberry constituents
We previously reported that the UPEC strain CFT073 grows normally in liquid glucose minimal media but exhibits in vitro quiescence on glucose minimal media agar plates when plated at low density (≤106 CFU)[16]
Summary
Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is responsible for 65–90% of UTI cases[2,4,5,6]. Similar to QIR cells, persister cells are strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic infections, including recurrent UTIs16–20. While proven to be metabolically distinct, the quiescent and persistent physiological states of UPEC are both likely to cause recurrent UTIs and treatment failures[16]. Other recent studies have suggested that cranberry complex carbohydrates might contribute to the prevention of UTIs. For example, xyloglucan oligosaccharides from cranberry have been shown to interfere with cell adhesion and biofilm formation by uropathogenic E. coli[30,31,32]. We report the isolation and chemical characterization of cranberry pectic oligosaccharides (cPOS) that prevent quiescence in the prototypical UPEC strain CFT073 and significantly reduce the population of UPEC persister cells in the presence of ampicillin
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