Colibactin Contributes to the Hypervirulence of pks⁺ K1 CC23 Klebsiella pneumoniae in Mouse Meningitis Infections.

ABSTRACT: Klebsiella pneumoniae is the most common pathogen of community-acquired meningitis in Taiwan. However, the lack of a physiologically relevant meningitis model for K. pneumoniae has impeded research into its pathogenesis mechanism. Based on the core genome MLST analyses, the hypervirulent K1 K. pneumoniae strains, which are etiologically implicated in adult meningitis, mostly belong to a single clonal complex, CC23. Some K1 CC23 K. pneumoniae strains carry a gene cluster responsible for colibactin production. Colibactin is a small genotoxic molecule biosynthesized by an NRPS-PKS complex, which is encoded by genes located on the pks island. Compared to other hypervirulent K. pneumoniae which primarily infect the liver, the colibactin-producing (pk

SUBMITTER: Lu MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5374149 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature