AUTHOR=Meibom Karin L., Charbit Alain 

TITLE=Francisella Tularensis Metabolism and its Relation to Virulence

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=1

YEAR=2010

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2010.00140

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2010.00140

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Francisella tularensis</italic> is a Gram-negative bacterium capable of causing the zoonotic disease tularaemia in a large number of mammalian species and in arthropods. <italic>F. tularensis</italic> is a facultative intracellular bacterium that infects and replicates <italic>in vivo</italic> mainly inside macrophages. During its systemic dissemination, <italic>F. tularensis</italic> must cope with very different life conditions (such as survival in different target organs or tissues and/or survival in the blood stream…) and may thus encounter a broad variety of carbon substrates, nitrogen, phosphor, and sulfur sources, as well as very low concentrations of essential ions. The development of recent genome-wide genetic screens have led to the identification of hundreds of genes participating to variable extents to <italic>Francisella</italic> virulence. Remarkably, an important proportion of the genes identified are related to metabolic and nutritional functions. However, the relationship between nutrition and the <italic>in vivo</italic> life cycle of <italic>F. tularensis</italic> is yet poorly understood. In this review, we will address the importance of metabolism and nutrition for <italic>F. tularensis</italic> pathogenesis, focusing specifically on amino acid and carbohydrate requirements.</p>