Long-chain fatty acids as nutrients for Gram-negative bacteria: stress, proliferation, and virulence

Bacteria use host-derived long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) as nutrients, signals, and membrane building blocks. Although the impact of LCFAs on the pathogenesis of Gram-negative bacteria via membrane remodeling or signaling is well-documented, their importance as a nutrient source for bacterial proliferation and virulence is an emerging research area with definitive studies reported only for Salmonella Typhimurium, Vibrio cholerae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Moreover, recent studies in Escherichia coli have shown that LCFA degradation confers redox stress. Here, we review the known role of LCFAs as nutrients during infection in Gram-negative human pathogens and the association of LCFA degradation with redox stress and stress response mechanisms. We suggest that for understanding how, as nutrients, LCFAs influence host-bacterial interactions, it is necessary to resolve whether LCFA utilization also causes redox stress in pathogens, with defense mechanisms preconditioning them for challenging host environments, or if pathogens have pre-existing mechanisms that prevent LCFA-induced stress.