Coxiella burnetii utilizes both glutamate and glucose during infection with glucose uptake mediated by multiple transporters

Abstract

Coxiella burnetii is a Gram-negative bacterium which causes Q fever, a complex and lifethreatening infection with both acute and chronic presentations. C. burnetii invades a variety of host cell types and replicates within a unique vacuole derived from the host cell lysosome. In order to understand how C. burnetii survives within this intracellular niche, we have investigated the carbon metabolism of both intracellular and axenically cultivated bacteria. Both bacterial populations were shown to assimilate exogenous [13C]glucose or [13C]glutamate, with concomitant labeling of intermediates in glycolysis and gluconeogenesis, and in the TCA cycle. Significantly, the two populations displayed me..