An homolog of the Frz Phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphoTransferase System of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli is encoded on a genomic island in specific lineages of Streptococcus agalactiae.
We identified a Streptococcus agalactiae metabolic region (fru2) coding for a Phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphoTransferase System (PTS) homologous to the Frz system of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli strains. The Frz system is involved in environmental sensing and regulation of the expression of adaptation and virulence genes in E. coli. The S. agalactiae fru2 region codes three subunits of a PTS transporter of the fructose-mannitol family, a transcriptional activator of PTSs of the MtlR family, an allulose-6 phosphate-3-epimerase, a transaldolase and a transketolase. We demonstrated that all these genes form an operon. The fru2 operon is present in a 17494-bp genomic island. We analyzed by multilocus sequence typing a population of 492 strains representative of the S. agalactiae population and we showed that the presence of the fru2 operon is linked to the phylogeny of S. agalactiae. The fru2 operon is always present within strains of clonal complexes CC 1, CC 7, CC 10, CC 283 and singletons ST 130 and ST 288, but never found in other CCs and STs. Our results indicate that the fru2 operon was acquired during the evolution of the S. agalactiae species from a common ancestor before the divergence of CC 1, CC 7, CC 10, CC 283, ST 130 and ST 288. As S. agalactiae strains of CC 1 and CC 10 are frequently isolated from adults with invasive disease, we hypothesize that the S. agalactiae Fru2 system senses the environment to allow the bacterium to adapt to new conditions encountered during the infection of adults.
Université François Rabelais de Tours, UMR1282 Infectiologie et Santé Publique, Bactéries et Risque Materno-Fœtal, F-37032 Tours, France; INRA, UMR1282 Infectiologie et Santé Publique, Bactéries et Risque Materno-Fœtal, F-37380 Nouzilly, France.
Kévin
K
Patron
Université François Rabelais de Tours, UMR1282 Infectiologie et Santé Publique, Bactéries et Risque Materno-Fœtal, F-37032 Tours, France; INRA, UMR1282 Infectiologie et Santé Publique, Bactéries et Risque Materno-Fœtal, F-37380 Nouzilly, France. Electronic address: philippe.gilot@univ-tours.fr.
Philippe
P
Gilot
Université François Rabelais de Tours, UMR1282 Infectiologie et Santé Publique, Bactéries et Risque Materno-Fœtal, F-37032 Tours, France; INRA, UMR1282 Infectiologie et Santé Publique, Bactéries et Risque Materno-Fœtal, F-37380 Nouzilly, France.
Emilie
E
Camiade
Université François Rabelais de Tours, UMR1282 Infectiologie et Santé Publique, Bactéries et Risque Materno-Fœtal, F-37032 Tours, France; INRA, UMR1282 Infectiologie et Santé Publique, Bactéries et Risque Materno-Fœtal, F-37380 Nouzilly, France; CHRU de Tours, Service de Bactériologie-Virologie, F-37044 Tours, France.
Laurent
L
Mereghetti
D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D016680:Genome, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D044404:Genomic Islands / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D060885:Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction; D009876:Operon / Q000235:genetics; D010731:Phosphoenolpyruvate Sugar Phosphotransferase System / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013292:Streptococcus agalactiae / Q000235:genetics*
D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins; D010731:Phosphoenolpyruvate Sugar Phosphotransferase System; C022358:mannitol PTS permease, E coli
Carbohydrate; Clonal Complex; Fru family; Group B Streptococcus; MLST; PTS