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Sialic acid catabolism in Staphylococcus aureus.

ABSTRACT: Staphylococcus aureus is a ubiquitous bacterial pathogen that is the causative agent of numerous acute and chronic infections. S. aureus colonizes the anterior nares of a significant portion of the healthy adult population, but the mechanisms of colonization remain incompletely defined. Sialic acid (N-acetylneuraminic acid [Neu5Ac]) is a bioavailable carbon and nitrogen source that is abundant on mucosal surfaces and in secretions in the commensal environment. Our findings demonstrate that Neu5Ac can serve as an S. aureus carbon source, and we have identified a previously uncharacterized chromosomal locus (nan) that is required for Neu5Ac utilization. Molecular characterization of the nan locus indicates that it contains five genes, organized into four transcripts, and the genes were renamed nanE, nanR, nanK, nanA, and nanT. Initial studies with gene deletions indicate that nanT, predicted to encode the Neu5Ac transporter, and nanA and nanE, predicted to encode catabolic enzymes, are essential for growth on Neu5Ac. Furthermore, a nanE deletion mutant exhibits a growth inhibition phenotype in the presence of Neu5Ac. Transcriptional fusions and Northern blot analyses indicate that NanR represses the expression of both the nanAT and nanE transcripts, which can be relieved with Neu5Ac. Electrophoretic mobility studies demonstrate that NanR binds to the nanAT and nanE promoter regions, and the Neu5Ac catabolic intermediate N-acetylmannosamine-6-phosphate (ManNAc-6P) relieves NanR promoter binding. Taken together, these data indicate that the nan gene cluster is essential for Neu5Ac utilization and may perform an important function for S. aureus survival in the host.

SUBMITTER: Olson ME

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3624546 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Sialic acid catabolism in Staphylococcus aureus.

Olson Michael E ME King Jessica M JM Yahr Timothy L TL Horswill Alexander R AR

Journal of bacteriology 20130208 8

Staphylococcus aureus is a ubiquitous bacterial pathogen that is the causative agent of numerous acute and chronic infections. S. aureus colonizes the anterior nares of a significant portion of the healthy adult population, but the mechanisms of colonization remain incompletely defined. Sialic acid (N-acetylneuraminic acid [Neu5Ac]) is a bioavailable carbon and nitrogen source that is abundant on mucosal surfaces and in secretions in the commensal environment. Our findings demonstrate that Neu5A ...[more]

PMID: 23396916

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Project description:Staphylococcus aureus must rapidly adapt to a variety of carbon and nitrogen sources during invasion of a host. Within a staphylococcal abscess, preferred carbon sources such as glucose are limiting, suggesting that S. aureus survives through the catabolism of secondary carbon sources. S. aureus encodes pathways to catabolize multiple amino acids, including those that generate pyruvate, 2-oxoglutarate, and oxaloacetate. To assess amino acid catabolism, S. aureus JE2 and mutants were grown in complete defined medium containing 18 amino acids but lacking glucose (CDM). A mutation in the gudB gene, coding for glutamate dehydrogenase, which generates 2-oxoglutarate from glutamate, significantly reduced growth in CDM, suggesting that glutamate and those amino acids generating glutamate, particularly proline, serve as the major carbon source in this medium. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies confirmed this supposition. Furthermore, a mutation in the ackA gene, coding for acetate kinase, also abrogated growth of JE2 in CDM, suggesting that ATP production from pyruvate-producing amino acids is also critical for growth. In addition, although a functional respiratory chain was absolutely required for growth, the oxygen consumption rate and intracellular ATP concentration were significantly lower during growth in CDM than during growth in glucose-containing media. Finally, transcriptional analyses demonstrated that expression levels of genes coding for the enzymes that synthesize glutamate from proline, arginine, and histidine are repressed by CcpA and carbon catabolite repression. These data show that pathways important for glutamate catabolism or ATP generation via Pta/AckA are important for growth in niches where glucose is not abundant, such as abscesses within skin and soft tissue infections.IMPORTANCES. aureus is a significant cause of both morbidity and mortality worldwide. This bacterium causes infections in a wide variety of organ systems, the most common being skin and soft tissue. Within a staphylococcal abscess, levels of glucose, a preferred carbon source, are limited due to the host immune response. Therefore, S. aureus must utilize other available carbon sources such as amino acids or peptides to proliferate. Our results show that glutamate and amino acids that serve as substrates for glutamate synthesis, particularly proline, function as major carbon sources during growth, whereas other amino acids that generate pyruvate are important for ATP synthesis via substrate-level phosphorylation in the Pta-AckA pathway. Our data support a model whereby certain amino acid catabolic pathways, and acquisition of those particular amino acids, are crucial for growth in niches where glucose is not abundant.

Project description:BackgroundSialic acids comprise a family of nine-carbon amino sugars that are prevalent in mucus rich environments. Sialic acids from the human host are used by a number of pathogens as an energy source. Here we explore the evolution of the genes involved in the catabolism of sialic acid.ResultsThe cluster of genes encoding the enzymes N-acetylneuraminate lyase (NanA), epimerase (NanE), and kinase (NanK), necessary for the catabolism of sialic acid (the Nan cluster), are confined 46 bacterial species, 42 of which colonize mammals, 33 as pathogens and 9 as gut commensals. We found a putative sialic acid transporter associated with the Nan cluster in most species. We reconstructed the phylogenetic history of the NanA, NanE, and NanK proteins from the 46 species and compared them to the species tree based on 16S rRNA. Within the NanA phylogeny, Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria do not form distinct clades. NanA from Yersinia and Vibrio species was most closely related to the NanA clade from eukaryotes. To examine this further, we reconstructed the phylogeny of all NanA homologues in the databases. In this analysis of 83 NanA sequences, Bacteroidetes, a human commensal group formed a distinct clade with Verrucomicrobia, and branched with the Eukaryotes and the Yersinia/Vibrio clades. We speculate that pathogens such as V. cholerae may have acquired NanA from a commensal aiding their colonization of the human gut. Both the NanE and NanK phylogenies more closely represented the species tree but numerous incidences of incongruence are noted. We confirmed the predicted function of the sialic acid catabolism cluster in members the major intestinal pathogens Salmonella enterica, Vibrio cholerae, V. vulnificus, Yersinia enterocolitica and Y. pestis.ConclusionThe Nan cluster among bacteria is confined to human pathogens and commensals conferring them the ability to utilize a ubiquitous carbon source in mucus rich surfaces of the human body. The Nan region shows a mosaic evolution with NanA from Bacteroidetes, Vibrio and Yersinia branching closely together with NanA from eukaryotes.

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Sialic acid catabolism in Staphylococcus aureus.

Publications

Sialic acid catabolism in Staphylococcus aureus.

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