title: Neuraminidase A-Exposed Galactose Promotes Streptococcus pneumoniae Biofilm Formation during Colonization.
abstract: Streptococcus pneumoniae is an opportunistic pathogen that colonizes the nasopharynx. Herein we show that carbon availability is distinct between the nasopharynx and bloodstream of adult humans: glucose is absent from the nasopharynx, whereas galactose is abundant. We demonstrate that pneumococcal neuraminidase A (NanA), which cleaves terminal sialic acid residues from host glycoproteins, exposed galactose on the surface of septal epithelial cells, thereby increasing its availability during colonization. We observed that S. pneumoniae mutants deficient in NanA and β-galactosidase A (BgaA) failed to form biofilms in vivo despite normal biofilm-forming abilities in vitro Subsequently, we observed that glucose, sucrose, and fructose were inhibitory for biofilm formation, whereas galactose, lactose, and low concentrations of sialic acid were permissive. Together these findings suggested that the genes involved in biofilm formation were under some form of carbon catabolite repression (CCR), a regulatory network in which genes involved in the uptake and metabolism of less-preferred sugars are silenced during growth with preferred sugars. Supporting this notion, we observed that a mutant deficient in pyruvate oxidase, which converts pyruvate to acetyl-phosphate under non-CCR-inducing growth conditions, was unable to form biofilms. Subsequent comparative transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) analyses of planktonic and biofilm-grown pneumococci showed that metabolic pathways involving the conversion of pyruvate to acetyl-phosphate and subsequently leading to fatty acid biosynthesis were consistently upregulated during diverse biofilm growth conditions. We conclude that carbon availability in the nasopharynx impacts pneumococcal biofilm formation in vivo Additionally, biofilm formation involves metabolic pathways not previously appreciated to play an important role.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Krystle A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Blanchette
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA Department of Microbiology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
authors.forename: Anukul T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Shenoy
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Milner
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Ryan P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Gilley
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: McClure
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Cecilia A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Hinojosa
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Nikhil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Sean C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Daugherty
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Luke J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Tallon
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ott
authors.affiliation: Center for Microbial Pathogenesis, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Samantha J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Daniela M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Stephen B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tettelin
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA Department of Microbiology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA corihuel@uab.edu.
authors.forename: Carlos J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Orihuela
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D018441:Biofilms / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development*; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005690:Galactose / Q000378:metabolism / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D019158:N-Acetylneuraminic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D017817:Nasal Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry; D009300:Nasal Septum / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D009439:Neuraminidase / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000172:deficiency / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D009439:Neuraminidase; D001616:beta-Galactosidase; D019158:N-Acetylneuraminic Acid; D005690:Galactose