Transposon Mutagenesis Screen of Klebsiella pneumoniae Identifies Multiple Genes Important for Resisting Antimicrobial Activities of Neutrophils in Mice
Michelle K. Paczosa, Rebecca J. Silver, Anne L. McCabe, Albert Tai, Colin H. McLeish, David W. Lazinski, Joan Mecsas
Abstract
Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram-negative bacterial pathogen that causes a range of infections, including pneumonias, urinary tract infections, and septicemia, in otherwise healthy and immunocompromised patients. K. pneumoniae has become an increasing concern due to the rise and spread of antibiotic-resistant and hypervirulent strains. However, its virulence determinants remain understudied. To identify novel K. pneumoniae virulence factors needed to cause pneumonia, a high-throughput screen was performed with an arrayed library of over 13,000 K. pneumoniae transposon insertion mutants in the lungs of wild-type (WT) and neutropenic mice using transposon sequencing (Tn-seq).