Experimental genital tract infection demonstrates Neisseria gonorrhoeae MtrCDE efflux pump is not required for in vivo human infection and identifies gonococcal colonization bottleneck.

ABSTRACT: The MtrCDE efflux pump of Neisseria gonorrhoeae exports a wide range of antimicrobial compounds that the gonococcus encounters at mucosal surfaces during colonization and infection and is a known gonococcal virulence factor. Here, we evaluate the role of this efflux pump system in strain FA1090 during in vivo human male urethral infection with N. gonorrhoeae using a controlled human infection model. With the strategy of competitive infections initiated with mixtures of wild-type FA1090 and an isogenic mutant FA1090 strain that does not contain a functional MtrCDE pump, we found that the presence of the efflux pump is not required for an infection to be established in the human male urethra. This finding contrasts with previous studies of in vivo infection in the lower genital tract of fema

SUBMITTER: Waltmann A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11457995 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature