Carbohydrates and the oxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway modify <i>Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron</i> phage resistance by phase-variable S-layers.

ABSTRACT: The human gut microbiota consists of hundreds of bacterial species, some of which persist in the presence of lytic phage that infect them. Bacteroides employ numerous phase-variable strategies to survive in the presence of phage, including capsular polysaccharides (CPS) and S-layer lipoproteins. We previously reported that a Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron strain lacking CPS exhibits almost complete resistance to multiple phages when forced to express the S-layer protein BT1927. However, this strain was only resistant after certain growth conditions, suggesting nutritional variables alter infection and resistance. We grew this strain on various simple sugars and polysaccharides, finding that some substrates (fructose, glucose) promote strong resistance to a single phage (ARB25),

SUBMITTER: Fuentes JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12548429 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature