TABLE 1.

Bacterial potassium transporters and their roles in pathogenesis

Bacterial pathogen	Characterized transport system(s)	Role in pathogenesis	Reference(s)
Staphylococcus aureus	Ktr, Kdp	Hyperosmotic tolerance, virulence factor production, antimicrobial resistance, murine abscess formation	73–77, 79
Listeria monocytogenes	Ktr, Kdp, Kim	NDa	82, 83
Streptococcus pneumoniae	Trk	Possibly linked to c-di-AMP levels	87, 88
Streptococcus mutans	Trk	Acidic stress, hyperosmotic tolerance, biofilm formation	101, 102
Mycobacterium tuberculosis	Trk, Kdp	Acidic stress, macrophage intracellular survival, murine intranasal infection	105 – 109
Salmonella enterica	Trk, Kdp, Kup	Acidic stress, virulence factor production, epithelial cell invasion, replication within macrophages, protamine resistance, murine intragastric and intraperitoneal infection	115 – 122
Acinetobacter baumannii	Trk, Kdp	Virulence factor production, murine pneumonia infection	124
Helicobacter pylori	Kch (channel)	Murine orogastric infection	127
Francisella tularensis	Trk, Kdp	Virulence factor production, hyperosmotic tolerance, survival in blood, murine intraperitoneal infection	131 – 134
Pseudomonas aeruginosa	Trk	Antimicrobial resistance, biofilm formation	137 – 139
Vibrio vulnificus	Trk	Protamine and polymyxin B resistance, growth in serum, murine subcutaneous and intraperitoneal infection	141, 142
Haemophilus influenzae	Trk	Antimicrobial resistance, murine nasopharynx and middle ear colonization	145

^aND, not determined.