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Background Haemophilus influenzae colonizes the nasopharynx as a commensal. Strain-specific factors allow some strains to migrate to particular anatomical niches, such as the middle ear, bronchi or blood, and induce disease by surviving within the conditions present at these sites in the body. It is established that H. influenzae colonization and in some cases survival is highly dependent on their ability to form a biofilm. Biofilm formation is a key trait in the development of chronic infection by certain isolates. This is exemplified by the contrast between the biofilm-forming strains found in middle ear infections and those isolates that survive within the blood and are rarely associated with biofilm development. Results Screening a group of H. influenzae strains revealed only slight variations in their growth across a range of pH conditions. However, some isolates responded to a pH of 8.0 by the formation of a biofilm. While the type b capsular blood isolate Eagan did not form a biofilm and grew at the same rate regardless of pH 6.8-8.0, transcriptomic analyses demonstrated that at pH 8.0 it uniquely induced a gluconate-uptake and metabolism pathway, which concurrently imports H+. A non-typeable H. influenzae, isolated from the middle ear, induced biofilm formation at pH 8.0, and at this pH it induced a series of iron acquisition genes, consistent with previous studies linking iron homeostasis to biofilm lifestyle. Conclusions Different strains of H. influenzae cope with changes in environmental factors using strainspecific mechanisms. These pathways define the scope and mode of niche-survival for an isolate. The pH is a property that is different from the middle ear (at least pH 8.0) compared to other sites that H. influenzae can colonize and infect. The transcriptional response to increasing pH by H. influenzae varies between strains, and pH is linked to pathways that allow strains to either continue free-living growth or induction of a biofilm. We showed that a biofilm-forming isolate induced iron metabolism pathways, whereas a strain that does not form biofilm at increasing pH induced mechanisms for growth and pH homeostasis based on sugar acid transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: adhC from Haemophilus influenzae encodes a glutathione-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase that has previously been shown to be required for protection against killing by S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO). This group of enzymes is known in other systems to be able to utilize substrates that form adducts with glutathione, such as aldehydes. Results: Here, we show that expression of adhC is maximally induced under conditions of high oxygen tension as well as specifically with glucose as a carbon source. adhC could also be induced in response to formaldehyde but not GSNO. An adhC mutant was more susceptible than wild-type Haemophilus influenzae Rd KW20 to killing by various short chain aliphatic aldehydes, all of which can be generated endogenously during cell metabolism but are also produced by the host as part of the innate immune response. Conclusions: These results indicate that AdhC plays a role in defense against endogenously generated reactive carbonyl electrophiles in Haemophilus influenzae and may also play a role in defense against the host innate immune system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]