Glutamate Transporters GltS, GltP and GltI Are Involved in Tolerance In Vitro and Pathogenicity in Mouse Urinary Tract Infections.

To verify the roles of GltS, GltP, and GltI in tolerance and pathogenicity, we quantified and compared the relative abundance of , , and in log-phase and stationary-phase and constructed their knockout mutant strains in BW25113 and uropathogenic (UPEC) separately, followed by analysis of their abilities to tolerate antibiotics and stressors, their capacity for adhesion to and invasion of human bladder epithelial cells, and their survival ability in mouse urinary tracts. Our results showed that , , and transcripts were higher in stationary phase than in log-phase incubation. Furthermore, deletion of , , and genes in BW25113 results in decreased tolerance to antibiotics (levofloxacin and ofloxacin) and stressors (acid pH, hyperosmosis, and heat), and loss of , , and in uropathogenic UTI89 caused attenuated adhesion and invasion in human bladder epithelial cells and markedly reduced survival in mice.