Recently, a new environmental Francisella strain, Francisella sp. strain W12-1067, has been identified in Germany. This strain is negative for the Francisella pathogenicity island (FPI) but exhibits a putative alternative type VI secretion system. Some known virulence factors of Francisella are present, but the pathogenic capacity of this species is not known yet. In silico genome analysis reveals the presence of a gene cluster tentatively enabling myo-inositol (MI) utilization via a putative inositol oxygenase. Labelling experiments starting from ²H-inositol demonstrate that this gene cluster is indeed involved in the metabolism of MI. We further show that, under in vitro conditions, supply of MI increases growth rates of strain W12-1067 in the absence of glucose and that the metabolism of MI is strongly reduced in a W12-1067 mutant lacking the MI gene cluster. The positive growth effect of MI in the absence of glucose is restored in this mutant strain by introducing the complete MI gene cluster. F. novicida Fx1 is also positive for the MI metabolizing gene cluster and MI again increases growth in a glucose-free medium, in contrast to F. novicida strain U112, which is shown to be a natural mutant of the MI metabolizing gene cluster. Labelling experiments of Francisella sp. strain W12-1067 in medium T containing ¹³C-glucose, ¹³C-serine or ¹³C-glycerol as tracers suggest a bipartite metabolism where glucose is mainly metabolized through glycolysis, but not through the Entner-Doudoroff pathway or the pentose phosphate pathway. Carbon flux from ¹³C-glycerol and ¹³C-serine is less active, and label from these tracers is transferred mostly into amino acids, lactate and fatty acids. Together, the metabolism of Francisella sp. strain W12-1067 seems to be more related to the respective one in F. novicida rather than in F. tularensis subsp. holarctica.

最近，一种新的环境弗氏杆菌菌株Francisella sp。菌株W12-1067，已在德国鉴定。该菌株对弗朗西斯菌致病岛（FPI）呈阴性，但显示出公认的VI型替代分泌系统。存在弗朗西斯菌的一些已知毒力因子，但该物种的致病能力尚不清楚。在计算机芯片上的基因组分析揭示了一个基因簇暂时启用的存在肌肌醇（MI）利用通过推定的肌醇加氧酶。从²开始的标记实验H-肌醇表明该基因簇确实参与了MI的代谢。我们进一步表明，在体外条件下，MI的提供增加了W12-1067菌株在不存在葡萄糖的情况下的生长速率，并且在缺乏MI基因簇的W12-1067突变体中，MI的代谢大大降低。通过引入完整的MI基因簇，在该突变株中恢复了在不存在葡萄糖的情况下MI的正生长作用。F.novicida Fx1也对MI代谢基因簇呈阳性，与MI.novicida菌株U112相比，MI再次增加了无葡萄糖培养基中的生长，后者被证明是MI代谢基因簇的天然突变体。弗朗西斯菌的标记实验sp。含有¹³ C-葡萄糖，¹³ C-丝氨酸或¹³ C-甘油作为示踪剂的培养基T中的W12-1067菌株表明存在二分代谢，其中葡萄糖主要通过糖酵解代谢，但不通过Entner-Doudoroff途径或戊糖磷酸途径代谢。来自¹³ C-甘油和¹³ C-丝氨酸的碳通量活性较低，来自这些示踪剂的标记大部分转移至氨基酸，乳酸和脂肪酸中。在一起，Francisella sp。的代谢。菌株W12-1067似乎与F. novicida中的相关菌株比与F. tularensis亚种中的菌株更相关。holarctica。