Finding the Sweet Spot: How Human Fungal Pathogens Acquire and Turn the Sugar Inositol against Their Hosts

ABSTRACT Inositol is an essential nutrient with important structural and signaling functions in eukaryotes. Its role in microbial pathogenesis has been reported in fungi, protozoans, and eubacteria. In a recent article, Porollo et al. [mBio 5(6):e01834-14, 2014, doi:10.1128/mBio.01834-14] demonstrat...

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Autor principal: Chaoyang Xue
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Publicado: American Society for Microbiology 2015
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:86e7c2d6ae6143bea294e563c6573ad52021-11-15T15:41:34ZFinding the Sweet Spot: How Human Fungal Pathogens Acquire and Turn the Sugar Inositol against Their Hosts10.1128/mBio.00109-152150-7511https://doaj.org/article/86e7c2d6ae6143bea294e563c6573ad52015-05-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mBio.00109-15https://doaj.org/toc/2150-7511ABSTRACT Inositol is an essential nutrient with important structural and signaling functions in eukaryotes. Its role in microbial pathogenesis has been reported in fungi, protozoans, and eubacteria. In a recent article, Porollo et al. [mBio 5(6):e01834-14, 2014, doi:10.1128/mBio.01834-14] demonstrated the importance of inositol metabolism in the development and viability of Pneumocystis species—obligate fungal pathogens that remain unculturable in vitro. To understand their obligate nature, the authors used innovative comparative genomic approaches and discovered that Pneumocystis spp. are inositol auxotrophs due to the lack of inositol biosynthetic enzymes and that inositol insufficiency is a contributing factor preventing fungal growth in vitro. This work is in accord with other studies suggesting that inositol plays a conserved role in microbial pathogenesis. Inositol uptake and metabolism therefore may represent novel antimicrobial drug targets. Using comparative genomics to analyze metabolic pathways offers a powerful tool to gain new insights into nutrient utilization in microbes, especially obligate pathogens.Chaoyang XueAmerican Society for MicrobiologyarticleMicrobiologyQR1-502ENmBio, Vol 6, Iss 2 (2015)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Microbiology
QR1-502
spellingShingle Microbiology
QR1-502
Chaoyang Xue
Finding the Sweet Spot: How Human Fungal Pathogens Acquire and Turn the Sugar Inositol against Their Hosts
description ABSTRACT Inositol is an essential nutrient with important structural and signaling functions in eukaryotes. Its role in microbial pathogenesis has been reported in fungi, protozoans, and eubacteria. In a recent article, Porollo et al. [mBio 5(6):e01834-14, 2014, doi:10.1128/mBio.01834-14] demonstrated the importance of inositol metabolism in the development and viability of Pneumocystis species—obligate fungal pathogens that remain unculturable in vitro. To understand their obligate nature, the authors used innovative comparative genomic approaches and discovered that Pneumocystis spp. are inositol auxotrophs due to the lack of inositol biosynthetic enzymes and that inositol insufficiency is a contributing factor preventing fungal growth in vitro. This work is in accord with other studies suggesting that inositol plays a conserved role in microbial pathogenesis. Inositol uptake and metabolism therefore may represent novel antimicrobial drug targets. Using comparative genomics to analyze metabolic pathways offers a powerful tool to gain new insights into nutrient utilization in microbes, especially obligate pathogens.
format article
author Chaoyang Xue
author_facet Chaoyang Xue
author_sort Chaoyang Xue
title Finding the Sweet Spot: How Human Fungal Pathogens Acquire and Turn the Sugar Inositol against Their Hosts
title_short Finding the Sweet Spot: How Human Fungal Pathogens Acquire and Turn the Sugar Inositol against Their Hosts
title_full Finding the Sweet Spot: How Human Fungal Pathogens Acquire and Turn the Sugar Inositol against Their Hosts
title_fullStr Finding the Sweet Spot: How Human Fungal Pathogens Acquire and Turn the Sugar Inositol against Their Hosts
title_full_unstemmed Finding the Sweet Spot: How Human Fungal Pathogens Acquire and Turn the Sugar Inositol against Their Hosts
title_sort finding the sweet spot: how human fungal pathogens acquire and turn the sugar inositol against their hosts
publisher American Society for Microbiology
publishDate 2015
url https://doaj.org/article/86e7c2d6ae6143bea294e563c6573ad5
work_keys_str_mv AT chaoyangxue findingthesweetspothowhumanfungalpathogensacquireandturnthesugarinositolagainsttheirhosts
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