Klebsiella pneumoniae causes bacteremia using factors that mediate tissue-specific fitness and resistance to oxidative stress.

ABSTRACT: Gram-negative bacteremia is a major cause of global morbidity involving three phases of pathogenesis: initial site infection, dissemination, and survival in the blood and filtering organs. Klebsiella pneumoniae is a leading cause of bacteremia and pneumonia is often the initial infection. In the lung, K. pneumoniae relies on many factors like capsular polysaccharide and branched chain amino acid biosynthesis for virulence and fitness. However, mechanisms directly enabling bloodstream fitness are unclear. Here, we performed transposon insertion sequencing (TnSeq) in a tail-vein injection model of bacteremia and identified 58 K. pneumoniae bloodstream fitness genes. These factors are diverse and represent a variety of cellular processes. In vivo validation revealed tissue-specific mechanisms

SUBMITTER: Holmes CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10381055 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature