TY  - JOUR
A1  - Breisch, Jennifer Maria
A1  - Waclawska-Krzeminski, Izabela Jadwiga
A1  - Averhoff, Beate
T1  - Identification and characterization of a carnitine transporter in Acinetobacter baumannii
T2  - MicrobiologyOpen
N2  - The opportunistic pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii is able to grow on carnitine. The genes encoding the pathway for carnitine degradation to the intermediate malic acid are known but the transporter mediating carnitine uptake remained to be identified. The open reading frame HMPREF0010_01347 (aci01347) of Acinetobacter baumannii is annotated as a gene encoding a potential transporter of the betaine/choline/carnitine transporter (BCCT) family. To study the physiological function of Aci01347, the gene was deleted from A. baumannii ATCC 19606. The mutant was no longer able to grow on carnitine as sole carbon and energy source demonstrating the importance of this transporter for carnitine metabolism. Aci01347 was produced in Escherichia coli MKH13, a strain devoid of any compatible solute transporter, and the recombinant E. coli MKH13 strain was found to take up carnitine in an energy‐dependent fashion. Aci01347 also transported choline, a compound known to be accumulated under osmotic stress. Choline transport was osmolarity‐independent which is consistent with the absence of an extended C‐terminus found in osmo‐activated BCCT. We propose that the Aci01347 is the carnitine transporter mediating the first step in the growth of A. baumannii on carnitine.
KW  - Acinetobacter baumannii
KW  - betaine/choline/carnitine transporter
KW  - carnitine metabolism
KW  - human host adaptation
KW  - human pathogen
Y1  - 2018
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/47703
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-477036
SN  - 2045-8827
N1  - This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
VL  - 7
IS  - e752
SP  - 1
EP  - 8
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Malden, Mass.
ER  -