Zoonotic Streptococcus imports glucose to inhibit stringent response and promote growth during meningitis.

ABSTRACT: Proliferation of the emerging zoonotic pathogen Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus in the meninges is linked to mortality in pigs and morbidity in humans. The mechanisms underlying the remarkable capacity of hypervirulent S. zooepidemicus to proliferate in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are largely undefined. Here, using genetically barcoded S. zooepidemicus, we found that following systemic infection of mice, only ~1-10 S. zooepidemicus clones invade the meninges where they subsequently replicate ~10⁷-fold. Subsequent transposon insertion sequencing experiments, plus validation work with bacterial mannose phosphotransferase system (PTS_man)-defective strains, identified the PTS_man, which imports glucose, as essential for S. zooepidemicus proliferation in CS

SUBMITTER: Yuan C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12768970 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature