title: Glucose Metabolism via the Entner-Doudoroff Pathway inCampylobacter: A Rare Trait that Enhances Survival and Promotes Biofilm Formation in Some Isolates.
abstract: Isolates of the zoonotic pathogenCampylobacterare generally considered to be unable to metabolize glucose due to lack of key glycolytic enzymes. However, the Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway has been identified inCampylobacter jejunisubsp.doyleiand a fewC. coliisolates. A systematic search for ED pathway genes in a wide range ofCampylobacterisolates and in theC. jejuni/coliPubMLST database revealed that 1.7% of >6,000 genomes encoded a complete ED pathway, including bothC. jejuniandC. colifrom diverse clinical, environmental and animal sources. In rich media, glucose significantly enhanced stationary phase survival of a set of ED-positiveC. coliisolates. Unexpectedly, glucose massively promoted floating biofilm formation in some of these ED-positive isolates. Metabolic profiling by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed distinct responses to glucose in a low biofilm strain (CV1257) compared to a high biofilm strain (B13117), consistent with preferential diversion of hexose-6-phosphate to polysaccharide in B13117. We conclude that while the ED pathway is rare amongstCampylobacterisolates causing human disease (the majority of which would be of agricultural origin), some glucose-utilizing isolates exhibit specific fitness advantages, including stationary-phase survival and biofilm production, highlighting key physiological benefits of this pathway in addition to energy conservation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Disease Biology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Christina S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Vegge
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of OxfordOxford, UK; NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Gastrointestinal InfectionsOxford, UK.
authors.forename: Melissa J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Jansen van Rensburg
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Disease Biology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Janus J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Rasmussen
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of OxfordOxford, UK; NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Gastrointestinal InfectionsOxford, UK.
authors.forename: Martin C J
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Maiden
authors.affiliation: MS-Omics Frederiksberg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Lea G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Johnsen
authors.affiliation: MS-Omics Frederiksberg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Morten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Danielsen
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading Reading, UK.
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: MacIntyre
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Disease Biology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Hanne
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ingmer
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, The University of Sheffield Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kelly
keywords: PubMLST database; capsule; glycolysis; hexose sugar; polysaccharide; stationary-phase