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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2009, p. 4427-4440, Vol. 191, No. 13
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00103-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

A Metabolic Operon in Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli Promotes Fitness under Stressful Conditions and Invasion of Eukaryotic Cells{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Géraldine Rouquet, Gaëlle Porcheron, Claire Barra, Maryline Répérant, Nathalie K. Chanteloup, Catherine Schouler, and Philippe Gilot*

INRA, UR1282, Unité d'Infectiologie Animale et de Santé Publique, Laboratoire de Pathogénie Bactérienne, Centre de Recherche de Tours, F-37380 Nouzilly, France

Received 26 January 2009/ Accepted 14 April 2009

We identified a carbohydrate metabolic operon (frz) that is highly associated with extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) strains. The frz operon codes for three subunits of a phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS) transporter of the fructose subfamily, for a transcriptional activator of PTSs of the MgA family, for two type II ketose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolases, for a sugar-specific kinase (repressor, open reading frame, kinase family [ROK]), and for a protein of the cupin superfamily. We proved that the frz operon promotes bacterial fitness under stressful conditions, such as oxygen restriction, late stationary phase of growth, or growth in serum or in the intestinal tract. Furthermore, we showed that frz is involved in adherence to and internalization in human type II pneumocytes, human enterocytes, and chicken liver cells by favoring the ON orientation of the fim operon promoter and thus acting on the expression of type 1 fimbriae, which are the major ExPEC adhesins. Both the PTS activator and the metabolic enzymes encoded by the frz operon are involved in these phenotypes.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: INRA, UR1282, Unité d'Infectiologie Animale et de Santé Publique, Laboratoire de Pathogénie Bactérienne, Centre de Recherche de Tours, F-37380 Nouzilly, France. Phone: 33 2 47 42 77 63. Fax: 33 2 47 42 77 74. E-mail: philippe.gilot{at}tours.inra.fr

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 17 April 2009.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

Journal of Bacteriology, July 2009, p. 4427-4440, Vol. 191, No. 13
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00103-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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