Open AccessHigh-Throughput Carbon Substrate Profiling of Mycobacterium ulcerans Suggests Potential Environmental Reservoirs
Author(s) -
Dezemon Zingué,
Amar Bouam,
Muriel Militello,
Michel Drancourt
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plos neglected tropical diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.99
H-Index - 135
eISSN - 1935-2735
pISSN - 1935-2727
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005303
Subject(s) - mycobacterium ulcerans , buruli ulcer , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , bacteria , mycobacterium marinum , mycobacterium , medicine , pathology , genetics , disease
Background Mycobacterium ulcerans is a close derivative of Mycobacterium marinum and the agent of Buruli ulcer in some tropical countries. Epidemiological and environmental studies pointed towards stagnant water ecosystems as potential sources of M . ulcerans , yet the ultimate reservoirs remain elusive. We hypothesized that carbon substrate determination may help elucidating the spectrum of potential reservoirs. Methodology/Principal findings In a first step, high-throughput phenotype microarray Biolog was used to profile carbon substrates in one M . marinum and five M . ulcerans strains. A total of 131/190 (69%) carbon substrates were metabolized by at least one M . ulcerans strain, including 28/190 (15%) carbon substrates metabolized by all five M . ulcerans strains of which 21 substrates were also metabolized by M . marinum . In a second step, 131 carbon substrates were investigated, through a bibliographical search, for their known environmental sources including plants, fruits and vegetables, bacteria, algae, fungi, nematodes, mollusks, mammals, insects and the inanimate environment. This analysis yielded significant association of M . ulcerans with bacteria (p = 0.000), fungi (p = 0.001), algae (p = 0.003) and mollusks (p = 0.007). In a third step, the Medline database was cross-searched for bacteria, fungi, mollusks and algae as potential sources of carbon substrates metabolized by all tested M . ulcerans ; it indicated that 57% of M . ulcerans substrates were associated with bacteria, 18% with alga, 11% with mollusks and 7% with fungi. Conclusions This first report of high-throughput carbon substrate utilization by M . ulcerans would help designing media to isolate and grow this pathogen. Furthermore, the presented data suggest that potential M . ulcerans environmental reservoirs might be related to micro-habitats where bacteria, fungi, algae and mollusks are abundant. This should be followed by targeted investigations in Buruli ulcer endemic regions.