Cholera toxin promotes pathogen acquisition of host-derived nutrients.

ABSTRACT: Vibrio cholerae is the causative agent of cholera, a potentially lethal enteric bacterial infection¹. Cholera toxin (CTX), a protein complex that is secreted by V. cholerae, is required for V. cholerae to cause severe disease. CTX is also thought to promote transmission of the organism, as infected individuals shed many litres of diarrhoeal fluid that typically contains in excess of 10¹¹ organisms per litre. How the pathogen is able to reach such high concentrations in the intestine during infection remains poorly understood. Here we show that CTX increases pathogen growth and induces a distinct V. cholerae transcriptomic signature that is indicative of an iron-depleted gut niche. During infection, bacterial pathogens need to acquire iron, which is an essential nutrie

SUBMITTER: Rivera-Chavez F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6727848 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature