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Volume 171, Issue 1

The genes are important for growth in the presence of sphingosine by promoting sphingosine metabolism Open Access

Abstract

Sphingoid bases, including sphingosine, are important components of the antimicrobial barrier at epithelial surfaces where they can cause growth inhibition and killing of susceptible bacteria. is a common opportunistic pathogen that is less susceptible to sphingosine than many Gram-negative bacteria. Here, we determined that the deletion of the operon reduced growth in the presence of sphingosine. Using deletion mutants, complementation and growth assays in PAO1, we determined that the and genes, encoding a periplasmic oxidase and periplasmic cytochrome c, respectively, were important for growth on sphingosine, while was dispensable under these conditions. Deletion of in PA14, Pf-5 and Pf01 also showed reduced growth in the presence of sphingosine. The genes were also important for growth in the presence of two other sphingoid bases, phytosphingosine and sphinganine. In WT , sphingosine is metabolized to an unknown non-inhibitory product, as sphingosine concentrations drop in the culture. However, in the absence of , sphingosine accumulates, pointing to SphC and SphB as having a role in sphingosine metabolism. Finally, the metabolism of sphingosine by WT protected susceptible cells from full growth inhibition by sphingosine, pointing to a role for sphingosine metabolism as a public good. This work shows that the metabolism of sphingosine by presents a novel pathway by which bacteria can alter host-derived sphingolipids, but it remains an open question whether SphB and SphC act directly on sphingosine.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): lipid , pathogenesis and sphingosine
Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • National Science Foundation (Award MCB-1553004)
    • Principle Award Recipient: EricA. Klein
  • Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Award T32 AI055402)
    • Principle Award Recipient: LaurenA. Hinkel
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Award T32 HL076122)
    • Principle Award Recipient: PaulineDiGianivittorio
  • Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (Award WARGO24G0)
    • Principle Award Recipient: MatthewJ Wargo
  • Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Award R01AI103003)
    • Principle Award Recipient: MatthewJ Wargo
© 2025 The Authors
  • This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. This article was made open access via a Publish and Read agreement between the Microbiology Society and the corresponding author’s institution.
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2025-01-10
2025-01-17
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/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001520
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The Pseudomonas aeruginosa sphBC genes are important for growth in the presence of sphingosine by promoting sphingosine metabolism
Microbiology 171, 001520 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001520
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001520
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001520
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