Sialic acid plays a pivotal role in licensing Citrobacter rodentium's transition from the intestinal lumen to a mucosal adherent niche.

ABSTRACT: Enteric bacterial pathogens pose significant threats to human health; however, the mechanisms by which they infect the mammalian gut in the face of daunting host defenses and an established microbiota remain poorly defined. For the attaching and effacing (A/E) bacterial family member and murine pathogen Citrobacter rodentium, its virulence strategy likely involves metabolic adaptation to the host's intestinal luminal environment, as a necessary precursor to reach and infect the mucosal surface. Suspecting this adaptation involved the intestinal mucus layer, we found that C. rodentium was able to catabolize sialic acid, a monosaccharide derived from mucins, and utilize it as its sole carbon source for growth. Moreover, C. rodentium also sensed and displayed chemotactic

SUBMITTER: Liang Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10334811 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature