The Two Functional Enoyl-Acyl Carrier Protein Reductases of Enterococcus faecalis Do Not Mediate Triclosan Resistance
ABSTRACTEnoyl-acyl carrier protein (enoyl-ACP) reductase catalyzes the last step of the elongation cycle in the synthesis of bacterial fatty acids. TheEnterococcus faecalisgenome contains two genes annotated as enoyl-ACP reductases, a FabI-type enoyl-ACP reductase and a FabK-type enoyl-ACP reductase. We report that expression of either of the two proteins restores growth of anEscherichia colifabItemperature-sensitive mutant strain under nonpermissive conditions.In vitroassays demonstrated that both proteins support fatty acid synthesis and are active with substrates of all fatty acid chain lengths. Although expression ofE. faecalis fabKconfers toE. colihigh levels of resistance to the antimicrobial triclosan, deletion offabKfrom theE. faecalisgenome showed that FabK does not play a detectable role in the inherent triclosan resistance ofE. faecalis. Indeed, FabK seems to play only a minor role in modulating fatty acid composition. Strains carrying a deletion offabKgrow normally without fatty acid supplementation, whereasfabIdeletion mutants make only traces of fatty acids and are unsaturated fatty acid auxotrophs.IMPORTANCEThe finding that exogenous fatty acids support growth ofE. faecalisstrains defective in fatty acid synthesis indicates that inhibitors of fatty acid synthesis are ineffective in counteringE. faecalisinfections because host serum fatty acids support growth of the bacterium.