Klebsiella pneumoniae peptide hijacks a Streptococcus pneumoniae permease to subvert pneumococcal growth and colonization.

ABSTRACT: Treatment of pneumococcal infections is limited by antibiotic resistance and exacerbation of disease by bacterial lysis releasing pneumolysin toxin and other inflammatory factors. We identified a previously uncharacterized peptide in the Klebsiella pneumoniae secretome, which enters Streptococcus pneumoniae via its AmiA-AliA/AliB permease. Subsequent downregulation of genes for amino acid biosynthesis and peptide uptake was associated with reduction of pneumococcal growth in defined medium and human cerebrospinal fluid, irregular cell shape, decreased chain length and decreased genetic transformation. The bacteriostatic effect was specific to S. pneumoniae and Streptococcus pseudopneumoniae with no effect on Streptococcus mitis, Haemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus or K. pneumonia

SUBMITTER: Lux J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11001997 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature