Fitness of Escherichia coli during Urinary Tract Infection Requires Gluconeogenesis and the TCA Cycle
Figure 5
In vivo fitness of UPEC central metabolism mutants.
Individual female mice were transurethrally inoculated with 2×108 CFU of a 1∶1 mixture of wild-type and mutant bacteria. In vivo fitness at 48 hpi for UPEC mutants defective in: (A,B) glycolysis, (C) pentose phosphate pathway, (D) Entner-Doudoroff pathway, (E) TCA cycle, and (F) gluconeogenesis. At 48 hpi, bladders and kidneys were aseptically removed, homogenized, and plated on LB or LB containing kanamycin to determine viable counts of wild-type and mutant strains, respectively. Each dot represents the log CFU/g from an individual animal. Bars represent the median CFU/g, and the limit of detection is 200 CFU. Significant differences in colonization levels (P<0.05) are indicated and were determined using a two-tailed Wilcoxon matched pairs test.