Genome-wide CRISPRi profiling reveals the essentiality of the PTS Lactose operon for Human milk oligosaccharide metabolization in Streptococcus pneumoniae

In this study, we identified the conditions and the type of human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) that allow the growth of S. pneumoniae. We performed a genome-wide CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) screen with HMOs and identified genes involved in Lactose (Lac) and HMO metabolization as essential. The contributions of the identified essential genes to pneumococcal virulence were further investigated by in vivo experiments and cell adherence assays.