During this stage of infection, P. larvae obviously follows a commensal life style living from the food ingested by the larva. This is consistent with earlier findings that P. larvae contains active enzymes of the Emden- Meyerhoff-Parnas, pentose phosphate, and Entner-Doudoroff pathways involved in carbohydrate metabolism and that it is able to metabolize different sugars including glucose and fructose to support vegetative growth