Genome-wide Screening Identifies Phosphotransferase System Permease BepA to Be Involved in Enterococcus faecium Endocarditis and Biofilm Formation
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Authors
Colleges, School and Institutes
External organisations
- Department of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Hauner Children's Hospital, Ludwigs-Maximilian Universität München Center for Infectious Disease and Travel Medicine, University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany.
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases Center for the Study of Emerging and Re-emerging Pathogens.
- Center for Infectious Disease and Travel Medicine, University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany.
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases Center for the Study of Emerging and Re-emerging Pathogens Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
Abstract
Enterococcus faecium is a common cause of nosocomial infections, of which infective endocarditis is associated with substantial mortality. In this study, we used a microarray-based transposon mapping (M-TraM) approach to evaluate a rat endocarditis model and identified a gene, originally annotated as "fruA" and renamed "bepA," putatively encoding a carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS) permease (biofilm and endocarditis-associated permease A [BepA]), as important in infective endocarditis. This gene is highly enriched in E. faecium clinical isolates and absent in commensal isolates that are not associated with infection. Confirmation of the phenotype was established in a competition experiment of wild-type and a markerless bepA mutant in a rat endocarditis model. In addition, deletion of bepA impaired biofilm formation in vitro in the presence of 100% human serum and metabolism of β-methyl-D-glucoside. β-glucoside metabolism has been linked to the metabolism of glycosaminoglycans that are exposed on injured heart valves, where bacteria attach and form vegetations. Therefore, we propose that the PTS permease BepA is directly implicated in E. faecium pathogenesis.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 189-95 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | The Journal of Infectious Diseases |
Volume | 214 |
Issue number | 2 |
Publication status | Published - 15 Jul 2016 |
Keywords
- Journal Article