{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T02:24:05Z","timestamp":1789698245463,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,17]],"date-time":"2022-05-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1652745600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Glycogen in the female lower reproductive tract is a major carbon source for colonization and acidification by common vaginal Lactobacillus species, such as Lactobacillus crispatus. Previously, we identified the amylopullulanase encoding gene pulA of Lactobacillus crispatus to correlate with the ability to autonomously utilize glycogen for growth. Here, we further characterize genetic variation and differential regulation of pulA affecting the presence of its gene product on the outer surface layer. We show that alpha-glucan degrading activity dissipates when Lactobacillus crispatus is grown on glucose, maltose and maltotriose, in agreement with carbon catabolite repression elements flanking the pulA gene. Proteome analysis of the S-layer confirmed that the amylopullulanase protein is highly abundant in an S-layer enriched fraction, but not in a strain with a defective amylopullulanase variant or in an amylopullulanase-sufficient strain grown on glucose. In addition, we provide evidence that Lactobacillus crispatus pulA mutants are relevant in vivo, as they are commonly observed in metagenome datasets of human vaginal microbial communities. Analysis of the largest publicly available dataset of 1507 human vaginal metagenomes indicates that among the 270 samples that contain a Lactobacillus crispatuspulA gene, 62 samples (23%) had a defective variant of this gene. Taken together, these results demonstrate that both environmental, as well as genetic factors explain the variation of Lactobacillus crispatus alpha-glucosidases in the vaginal environment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms23105590","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,17]],"date-time":"2022-05-17T08:34:29Z","timestamp":1652776469000},"page":"5590","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":31,"title":["Genetic Elements Orchestrating Lactobacillus crispatus Glycogen Metabolism in the Vagina"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6119-9450","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rosanne","family":"Hertzberger","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1108, 1081 HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ali","family":"May","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ARTIS-Micropia, Plantage Kerklaan 38-40, 1018 CZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Biodata & Translation Innovation, Royal DSM, Alexander Fleminglaan 1, 2613 AX Delft, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gertjan","family":"Kramer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory for Mass Spectrometry of Biomolecules, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Isabelle","family":"van Vondelen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1108, 1081 HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Douwe","family":"Molenaar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1108, 1081 HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3674-598X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Remco","family":"Kort","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1108, 1081 HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands"},{"name":"ARTIS-Micropia, Plantage Kerklaan 38-40, 1018 CZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"O\u2019Hanlon, D.E., Moench, T.R., and Cone, R.A. 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