Anatomical Site-Specific Carbohydrate Availability Impacts Streptococcus pneumoniae Virulence and Fitness during Colonization and Disease.

ABSTRACT: Streptococcus pneumoniae colonizes the nasopharynx asymptomatically but can also cause severe life-threatening disease. Importantly, stark differences in carbohydrate availability exist between the nasopharynx and invasive disease sites, such as the bloodstream, which most likely impact S. pneumoniae's behavior. Herein, using chemically defined medium (CDM) supplemented with physiological levels of carbohydrates, we examined how anatomical site-specific carbohydrate availability impacted S. pneumoniae physiology and virulence. S. pneumoniae cells grown in CDM modeling the nasopharynx (CDM-N) had reduced metabolic activity and a lower growth rate, demonstrated mixed acid fermentation with marked H₂O₂ production, and were in a carbon-catabolite repression (CCR)-derepres

SUBMITTER: Im H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8788743 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature