Infection and Immunity 2003-05-01

The Entner-Doudoroff pathway has little effect on Helicobacter pylori colonization of mice.

Amy E Wanken, Tyrrell Conway, Kathryn A Eaton

Index: Infect. Immun. 71(5) , 2920-3, (2003)

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Abstract

Helicobacter pylori mutants deficient in 6-phosphogluconate dehydratase (6PGD) were constructed. Colonization densities were lower and minimum infectious doses were higher for mutant strains than for wild-type strains. In spite of better colonization, however, wild-type strains did not displace the mutant in cocolonization experiments. Loss of 6PGD diminishes the fitness of H. pylori in vivo, but the pathway is nonessential for colonization.