Genome scale metabolic network reconstruction of pathogen – Enterococcus faecalis

Abstract

Enterococcus faecalis is a Gram-positive bacterium that is getting more attention due to its “two-face” behavior. This natural inhabitant of the gastrointestinal mammalian tract is also an opportunist pathogen responsible for urinary tract infections, nosocomial infections, bacteremia and infective endocarditis (1). Since the metabolic reconstruction of Haemophilus influenzae was published in 1999 (2), many other researchers have focused their attention into the possibilities that the new era of genome-scale metabolic models could bring to the scientific scene, both in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms.