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The source of carbon and nitrogen differentially affects the survival of Neisseria meningitidis in macrophages and epithelial cells

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Abstract

Neisseria meningitidis is a commensal of human nasopharynx which under certain unidentified conditions could lead to fulminant meningitis or sepsis. Availability of nutrients is essential for bacterial growth and virulence. The metabolic adaptations allow N. meningitidis to utilize host resources, colonize and cause virulence functions which are a crucial for the invasive infection. During colonization meningococci encounters a range of microenvironments involving fluctuations in the availability of carbon and nitrogen source. Therefore, the characterization of virulence factors of N. meningitidis under different microenvironmental conditions is a prime requisite to understand pathogenesis; however, the role of nutrients is not well understood. Here, we explore the expression of virulence phenotype leading to symptomatic behaviour as affected by available carbon and nitrogen sources. We evaluate the effect of carbon or nitrogen source on growth, adhesion to epithelial cells, macrophage infectivity, capsule formation and virulence gene expression of N. meningitidis. It was found that lactate, pyruvate, and acetate facilitate survival of N. meningitidis in macrophages. While in epithelial cells, the survival of N. meningitidis is negatively affected by the presence of lactate and pyruvate.

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Data availability

Data could be available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

PK is supported by the junior research fellowship program of the Symbiosis International (Deemed University).

Funding

The work was supported by the Ramalingaswami fellowship program of Department of Biotechnology, India under Grant BT/RLF/Re-entry/41/2015.

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Author notes

  1. Poonam Kanojiya, Riya Joshi are equal contribution author.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Symbiosis School of Biological Sciences, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Lavale, Pune, Maharashtra, 412115, India

    Poonam Kanojiya, Riya Joshi & Sunil D. Saroj

Authors
  1. Poonam Kanojiya
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  2. Riya Joshi
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  3. Sunil D. Saroj
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Contributions

PK and RJ prepared the first draft; PK and RJ performed the assays and analysed the data. SD conceptualized the idea, examined and analysed data. PK and SD finalized the draft.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sunil D. Saroj.

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The authors report no conflict of interest.

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No animals were used in the experiments. Therefore, ethics approval was not required.

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Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt.

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Kanojiya, P., Joshi, R. & Saroj, S.D. The source of carbon and nitrogen differentially affects the survival of Neisseria meningitidis in macrophages and epithelial cells. Arch Microbiol 204, 404 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-022-03037-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-022-03037-y

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