Urine-mediated suppression of Klebsiella pneumoniae mucoidy is counteracted by spontaneous Wzc variants altering capsule chain length.

ABSTRACT: Klebsiella pneumoniae is a hospital-associated pathogen primarily causing urinary tract infections (UTIs), pneumonia, and septicemia. Two challenging lineages include the hypervirulent strains, causing invasive community-acquired infections, and the carbapenem-resistant classical strains, most frequently isolated from UTIs. While hypervirulent strains are often characterized by a hypermucoid phenotype, classical strains usually present with low mucoidy. Since clinical UTI isolates tend to exhibit limited mucoidy, we hypothesized that environmental conditions may drive K. pneumoniae adaptation to the urinary tract and select against mucoid isolates. We found that both hypervirulent K. pneumoniae and classical Klebsiella UTI isolates significantly suppressed mucoi

SUBMITTER: Khadka S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10597399 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature