Abstract
Enterococcus faecalis has to cope with major stress conditions during colonization. To understand the effects of stress encountered during infection, the present study assessed the transcriptomic response of the bacteria facing exposure to serum, urine, bile salts, acid pH, or oxidative stress. Compared to non-stressed culture, 30% of the E. faecalis genes were differentially expressed. The transcriptome analysis reveals common but also specific responses, depending on stresses encountered: thus, urine exposure has the most important impact, and the highest number of genes with modified expression is involved in transport and metabolism. The results also pinpoint many stress-related sRNA or intergenic regions not yet characterized. This study identified the general stress stimulon related to infection: when the commensal bacterium initiates its response to stress related to infection, it increases its ability to survive to rough conditions for colonization, rather than promoting expression of virulence factors, and becomes this opportunistic pathogen that thrives in hospital settings.
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Acknowledgements
The expert technical assistance of Isabelle Rincé was greatly appreciated. We would like to thank all members of our labs for helpful discussions.
Funding
This work was partly supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in the frame of a transnational ERA-NET PathoGenoMics program [ANR-08-PATH-008–01].
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Table S1
Oligonucleotides used for RT-qPCR assays. (XLSX 16 kb)
Table S2
List of E. faecalis V19 genes considered for expression analysis. (XLSX 114 kb)
Table S3
Comparison of detected sRNA and their flanking genes RNA expression. (XLSX 25 kb)
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Salze, M., Giard, JC., Riboulet-Bisson, E. et al. Identification of the general stress stimulon related to colonization in Enterococcus faecalis. Arch Microbiol 202, 233–246 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-019-01735-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-019-01735-8