The role of individual exopolysaccharides in antibiotic tolerance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa aggregates

Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbiology

Rikke Overgaard Kiilerich¹  Ida Hedal¹  Tim Tolker-Nielsen¹  Ziwei Liang¹  Martin Nilsson¹  Jens Bo Andersen¹  Kasper Nørskov Kragh¹  Júlia Alcàcer-Almansa² 

[1] Costerton Biofilm Center, Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark;Costerton Biofilm Center, Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark;Bacterial Infections: Antimicrobial Therapies Group, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain;

关键词: biofilm;    Pseudomonas aeruginosa;    aggregates;    extracellular matrix;    antibiotic tolerance;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmicb.2023.1187708

 received in 2023-03-16, accepted in 2023-05-17,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa is involved in chronic infections of cystic fibrosis lungs and chronic wounds. In these infections the bacteria are present as aggregates suspended in host secretions. During the course of the infections there is a selection for mutants that overproduce exopolysaccharides, suggesting that the exopolysaccharides play a role in the persistence and antibiotic tolerance of the aggregated bacteria. Here, we investigated the role of individual P. aeruginosa exopolysaccharides in aggregate-associated antibiotic tolerance. We employed an aggregate-based antibiotic tolerance assay on a set of P. aeruginosa strains that were genetically engineered to over-produce a single, none, or all of the three exopolysaccharides Pel, Psl, and alginate. The antibiotic tolerance assays were conducted with the clinically relevant antibiotics tobramycin, ciprofloxacin and meropenem. Our study suggests that alginate plays a role in the tolerance of P. aeruginosa aggregates toward tobramycin and meropenem, but not ciprofloxacin. However, contrary to previous studies we did not observe a role for Psl or Pel in the tolerance of P. aeruginosa aggregates toward tobramycin, ciprofloxacin, and meropenem.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Liang, Nilsson, Kragh, Hedal, Alcàcer-Almansa, Kiilerich, Andersen and Tolker-Nielsen.