While inositol lipids are ubiquitous in eukaryotes and have finely tuned roles in cellular signalling and membrane homoeostasis, bacterial inositol lipids were previously thought to be limited largely to PI-DAG synthesis in Actinobacteria as discribed for the obligate intracellular pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Stacey found that inositol lipid production is widespread in common gut bacteria and that the vast majority of Bacteroidetes produce inositol lipids, either the way Mycobacteria do, or like eukaryotes. She described how loss of inositol lipid production altered capsule expression and antimicrobial peptide resistance, and led to decreased bacterial fitness in a gnotobiotic mouse model, suggesting that inositol lipids are necessary for competing in the gut.
Read the full article in Nature Microbiology: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-022-01152-6?s=09