PLoS Pathogens (Jun 2014)

Fructose-asparagine is a primary nutrient during growth of Salmonella in the inflamed intestine.

  • Mohamed M Ali,
  • David L Newsom,
  • Juan F González,
  • Anice Sabag-Daigle,
  • Christopher Stahl,
  • Brandi Steidley,
  • Judith Dubena,
  • Jessica L Dyszel,
  • Jenee N Smith,
  • Yakhya Dieye,
  • Razvan Arsenescu,
  • Prosper N Boyaka,
  • Steven Krakowka,
  • Tony Romeo,
  • Edward J Behrman,
  • Peter White,
  • Brian M M Ahmer

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1004209
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 6
p. e1004209

Abstract

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Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (Salmonella) is one of the most significant food-borne pathogens affecting both humans and agriculture. We have determined that Salmonella encodes an uptake and utilization pathway specific for a novel nutrient, fructose-asparagine (F-Asn), which is essential for Salmonella fitness in the inflamed intestine (modeled using germ-free, streptomycin-treated, ex-germ-free with human microbiota, and IL10-/- mice). The locus encoding F-Asn utilization, fra, provides an advantage only if Salmonella can initiate inflammation and use tetrathionate as a terminal electron acceptor for anaerobic respiration (the fra phenotype is lost in Salmonella SPI1- SPI2- or ttrA mutants, respectively). The severe fitness defect of a Salmonella fra mutant suggests that F-Asn is the primary nutrient utilized by Salmonella in the inflamed intestine and that this system provides a valuable target for novel therapies.