Exley Rachel M, Goodwin Linda, Mowe Eva, Shaw Jonathan, Smith Harry, Read Robert C, Tang Christoph M
The Centre for Molecular Microbiology and Infection, Flowers Building, Imperial College London, Armstrong Rd., London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
Infect Immun. 2005 Sep;73(9):5762-6. doi: 10.1128/IAI.73.9.5762-5766.2005.
Neisseria meningitidis is a human specific pathogen that is part of the normal nasopharyngeal flora. Little is known about the metabolic constraints on survival of the meningococcus during colonization of the upper airways. Here we show that glucose and lactate, both carbon energy sources for meningococcal growth, are present in millimolar concentrations within nasopharyngeal tissue. We used a mutant defective for the uptake of lactate (C311DeltalctP) to investigate the contribution of this energy source during colonization. Explants of nasopharyngeal tissue were inoculated with the wild-type strain (C311) and C311DeltalctP; the mutant was recovered at significantly lower levels (P = 0.01) than C311 18 h later. This defect was not due to changes in the expression of adhesins or initial adhesion in C311DeltalctP to epithelial cells. Instead, lactate appears to be important energy source for the bacterium during colonization and is necessary for growth of the bacterium in nasopharyngeal tissue. Studies with other strains defective for the uptake of specific nutrients should provide valuable information about the environment in which N. meningitidis persists during carriage.
脑膜炎奈瑟菌是一种人类特异性病原体，是正常鼻咽部菌群的一部分。关于脑膜炎奈瑟菌在上呼吸道定植期间生存的代谢限制知之甚少。在这里，我们表明，葡萄糖和乳酸这两种脑膜炎奈瑟菌生长的碳能源，在鼻咽组织中以毫摩尔浓度存在。我们使用了一种乳酸摄取缺陷突变体（C311DeltalctP）来研究这种能源在定植过程中的作用。将鼻咽组织外植体接种野生型菌株（C311）和C311DeltalctP；18小时后，突变体的回收水平明显低于C311（P = 0.01）。这种缺陷不是由于C311DeltalctP中黏附素表达的变化或对上皮细胞的初始黏附。相反，乳酸似乎是该细菌在定植期间的重要能源，并且是该细菌在鼻咽组织中生长所必需的。对其他特定营养物质摄取缺陷菌株的研究应能提供有关脑膜炎奈瑟菌在携带期间持续存在的环境的有价值信息。
