The glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenases GpsA and GlpD constitute the oxidoreductive metabolic linchpin for Lyme disease spirochete host infectivity and persistence in the tick
Fig 2
Heterologous complementation of an E. coli gpsA mutant with B. burgdorferi gpsA restores growth in glucose.
The E. coli gpsA null mutant, strain BB20-14 (Ec ΔgpsA, white circles), E. coli gpsA null mutant with the inducible pUC18 expression vector (Ec ΔgpsA pUC18, gray circles) or E. coli gpsA null mutant with pUC18 carrying the B. burgdorferi gpsA gene (Ec ΔgpsA pUC18-gpsABb) were grown in M9 minimal media containing 0.1 mM IPTG either without (A) or with 1% glucose (B) at 37°C. Cell density measurements (OD600) were taken every 17 min. Data are the average from two separate cultures for each strain and error bars represent SEM; the experiment shown is representative of three independent biological replicates. The Ec ΔgpsA pUC18-gpsABb strain had significantly higher (p < 0.05) OD600 values compared to the other two strains from 4 h to 8 h of growth, as determined by one-way ANOVA with a Tukey’s post-hoc test.