Project description:Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major opportunistic pathogen causing a wide range of infections and one of the most problematic bacteria regarding antibiotic resistance, with an increasing incidence of multidrug and extensively-drug resistant strains, including resistance to last resource antibiotics such as carbapenems. Resistances are often due to complex interplays of naturally and acquired resistance mechanisms which are enhanced by its remarkably large regulatory network. Thus, the use of non-targeted shotgun methodologies such as mass spectrometry-based proteomics is crucial to understand these interplays and to reveal possible strain and species-specific novel mechanisms of antibiotic resistance. The aim of this study was to determine the proteomic response of two carbapenem-resistant and extensively-drug-resistant P. aeruginosa strains to subminimal inhibitory concentrations (sub-MICs) of meropenem. The strains belonged to high-risk clones ST235 and ST395, one carrying a class 1 integron-encoded VIM-4 metallo-β-lactamase and one carrying no acquired antibiotic resistance genes. Each strain was cultivated with three different sub-MICs of meropenem, and a quantitative shotgun proteomic approach was applied, using tandem mass tag (TMT) isobaric labeling followed by nano-liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry, to determine significantly up- or down-regulated proteins and enriched groups of proteins and pathways. Cultivation of both strains with ½ and ¼ of the MIC, resulted in hundreds of differentially regulated proteins, including several β-lactamases, transport-related proteins (including multiple porins and efflux pumps), proteins associated with peptidoglycan metabolism and cell wall organization and dozens of regulatory proteins. Remarkably, all components of the H1 type VI secretion system were up-regulated in one of the strains. Enrichment analyses revealed that multiple metabolic pathways were affected. Additionally, numerous proteins of unknown function were also differentially-regulated in each strain. In conclusion, high subminimal-inhibitory concentrations of meropenem cause massive changes in the proteomes of carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa strains, involving a wide range of common and strain-specific mechanisms and proteins, many still uncharacterized which might potentially play a role in the susceptibility of P. aeruginosa to meropenem.
Project description:Hfq is an RNA chaperone and an important post-transcriptional regulator in bacteria. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation together with DNA sequencing (ChIP-Seq), we show that Hfq associates with hundreds of different regions of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa chromosome. These associations are abolished when transcription is inhibited, indicating they reflect Hfq binding to transcripts during their synthesis. Analogous ChIP-Seq analyses with the post-transcriptional regulator Crc reveal that it associates with many of the same nascent transcripts as Hfq, an activity we show is Hfq dependent. Our findings indicate that Hfq binds many transcripts co-transcriptionally in P. aeruginosa, often in concert with Crc, and uncover direct regulatory targets of these proteins. They also highlight a general approach for studying the interactions of RNA-binding proteins with nascent transcripts in bacteria. The binding of post-transcriptional regulators to nascent mRNAs may represent a prevalent means of controlling translation in bacteria where transcription and translation are coupled.
Project description:Characterization of bacterial behavior in the microgravity environment of spaceflight is of importance towards risk assessment and prevention of infectious disease during long-term missions. Further, this research field unveils new insights into connections between low fluid-shear regions encountered by pathogens during their natural infection process in vivo, and bacterial virulence. This study is the first to characterize the global transcriptomic and proteomic response of an opportunistic pathogen that is actually found in the space habitat, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Overall, P. aeruginosa responded to spaceflight conditions through differential regulation of 167 genes and 28 proteins, with Hfq identified as a global transcriptional regulator in the response to this environment. Since Hfq was also induced in spaceflight-grown Salmonella typhimurium, Hfq represents the first spaceflight-induced regulator across the bacterial species border. The major P. aeruginosa virulence-related genes induced in spaceflight conditions were the lecA and lecB lectins and the rhamnosyltransferase (rhlA), involved in the production of rhamnolipids. The transcriptional response of spaceflight-grown P. aeruginosa was compared with our previous data of this organism grown in microgravity-analogue conditions using the rotating wall vessel (RWV) bioreactor technology. Interesting similarities were observed, among others with regard to Hfq regulation and oxygen utilization. While LSMMG-grown P. aeruginosa mainly induced genes involved in microaerophilic metabolism, P. aeruginosa cultured in spaceflight adopted an anaerobic mode of growth, in which denitrification was presumably most prominent. Differences in hardware between spaceflight and LSMMG experiments, in combination with more pronounced low fluid shear and mixing in spaceflight when compared to LSMMG conditions, were hypothesized to be at the origin of these observations. Collectively, our data suggest that spaceflight conditions could induce the transition of P. aeruginosa from an opportunistic organism to potential pathogen, results that are of importance for infectious disease risk assessment and prevention, both during spaceflight missions and in the clinic.
Project description:Characterization of bacterial behavior in the microgravity environment of spaceflight is of importance towards risk assessment and prevention of infectious disease during long-term missions. Further, this research field unveils new insights into connections between low fluid-shear regions encountered by pathogens during their natural infection process in vivo, and bacterial virulence. This study is the first to characterize the global transcriptomic and proteomic response of an opportunistic pathogen that is actually found in the space habitat, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Overall, P. aeruginosa responded to spaceflight conditions through differential regulation of 167 genes and 28 proteins, with Hfq identified as a global transcriptional regulator in the response to this environment. Since Hfq was also induced in spaceflight-grown Salmonella typhimurium, Hfq represents the first spaceflight-induced regulator across the bacterial species border. The major P. aeruginosa virulence-related genes induced in spaceflight conditions were the lecA and lecB lectins and the rhamnosyltransferase (rhlA), involved in the production of rhamnolipids. The transcriptional response of spaceflight-grown P. aeruginosa was compared with our previous data of this organism grown in microgravity-analogue conditions using the rotating wall vessel (RWV) bioreactor technology. Interesting similarities were observed, among others with regard to Hfq regulation and oxygen utilization. While LSMMG-grown P. aeruginosa mainly induced genes involved in microaerophilic metabolism, P. aeruginosa cultured in spaceflight adopted an anaerobic mode of growth, in which denitrification was presumably most prominent. Differences in hardware between spaceflight and LSMMG experiments, in combination with more pronounced low fluid shear and mixing in spaceflight when compared to LSMMG conditions, were hypothesized to be at the origin of these observations. Collectively, our data suggest that spaceflight conditions could induce the transition of P. aeruginosa from an opportunistic organism to potential pathogen, results that are of importance for infectious disease risk assessment and prevention, both during spaceflight missions and in the clinic. This study describes the transcriptional response of P. aeruginosa PAO1 to low-Earth orbit environmental conditions. Our aim was to assess whether the microgravity environment of spaceflight could induce virulence traits in P. aeruginosa. To this end, P. aeruginosa cultures were grown in space, and the expression profile was compared with ground control samples (both in biological triplicate). Two RWV samples also examined (did not re-analyze them, only compared the outputs).
Project description:Transmission analysis of carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa at a tertiary care centre in Cologne (Germany) from 2015 to 2020
Project description:Bacterial small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) play post-transcriptional regulatory roles in cellular responses to changing environmental cues and in adaptation to harsh conditions. Generally, the RNA-binding protein Hfq helps sRNAs associate with target mRNAs to modulate their translation and to modify global RNA pools depending on physiological state. Here, a combination of in vivo UV crosslinking immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (CLIP-seq) and total RNA-seq showed that Hfq interacts with different regions of the P. aeruginosa transcriptome under planktonic versus biofilm conditions. In the present approach, P. aeruginosa Hfq preferentially interacted with repeats of the AAN triplet motif at mRNA 5’ UTRs and sRNAs, and U-rich sequences at rho-independent terminators. Further transcriptome analysis suggested that sRNAs association with Hfq is primarily a function of their expression levels, strongly supporting that the pool of Hfq-associated RNAs is equilibrated by RNA concentration-driven cycling on and off Hfq. Overall, our combinatorial CLIP-seq and total RNA-seq approach highlights conditional sRNA associations with Hfq as a novel aspect of post-transcriptional regulation in P. aeruginosa.
Project description:Bacterial small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) play post-transcriptional regulatory roles in cellular responses to changing environmental cues and in adaptation to harsh conditions. Generally, the RNA-binding protein Hfq helps sRNAs associate with target mRNAs to modulate their translation and to modify global RNA pools depending on physiological state. Here, a combination of in vivo UV crosslinking immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (CLIP-seq) and total RNA-seq showed that Hfq interacts with different regions of the P. aeruginosa transcriptome under planktonic versus biofilm conditions. In the present approach, P. aeruginosa Hfq preferentially interacted with repeats of the AAN triplet motif at mRNA 5’ UTRs and sRNAs, and U-rich sequences at rho-independent terminators. Further transcriptome analysis suggested that sRNAs association with Hfq is primarily a function of their expression levels, strongly supporting that the pool of Hfq-associated RNAs is equilibrated by RNA concentration-driven cycling on and off Hfq. Overall, our combinatorial CLIP-seq and total RNA-seq approach highlights conditional sRNA associations with Hfq as a novel aspect of post-transcriptional regulation in P. aeruginosa.
Project description:Anticipating the risk for infectious disease during space exploration and habitation is a critical factor to ensure safety, health and performance of the crewmembers. As a ubiquitous environmental organism that is occasionally part of the human flora, Pseudomonas aeruginosa could pose a health hazard for the immuno-compromised astronauts. In order to gain insights in the behavior of P. aeruginosa in spaceflight conditions, two spaceflight-analogue culture systems, i.e. the rotating wall vessel (RWV) and the random position machine (RPM), were used. Microarray analysis of P. aeruginosa PAO1 grown in the low shear modeled microgravity (LSMMG) environment of the RWV compared to the normal gravity control (NG), revealed a regulatory role for AlgU (RpoE). Specifically, P. aeruginosa cultured in LSMMG exhibited increased alginate production and up-regulation of AlgU-controlled transcripts, including those encoding stress-related proteins. This study also shows the involvement of Hfq in the LSMMG response, consistent with its previously identified role in the Salmonella LSMMG- and spaceflight response. Furthermore, cultivation in LSMMG increased heat- and oxidative stress resistance and caused a decrease in the culture oxygen transfer rate. Interestingly, the global transcriptional response of P. aeruginosa grown in the RPM was similar to that in NG. The possible role of differences in fluid mixing between the RWV and RPM is discussed, with the overall collective data favoring the RWV as the optimal model to study the LSMMG-response of suspended cells. This study represents a first step towards the identification of specific virulence mechanisms of P. aeruginosa activated in response to spaceflight-analogue conditions, and could direct future research regarding the risk assessment and prevention of Pseudomonas infections for the crew in flight and the general public.
Project description:The ParS/ParR two component regulatory system plays important roles for multidrug resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In this study we report RNA-seq analyses of the transcriptomes of P. aeruginosa PAO1 wild type and par mutants growing in a minimal medium containing 2% casamino acids. This has allowed the quantification of PAO1 transcriptome, and further defines the regulon that is dependent on the ParS/ParR system for expression. Our RNA-seq analysis produced the first estimates of absolute transcript abundance for the 5570 coding genes in P. aeruginosa PAO1. Comparative transcriptomics of P. aeruginosa PAO1 and par mutants identified a total of 464 genes regulated by ParS and ParR. Results also showed that mutations in the parS/parR system abolished the expression of the mexEF-oprN operon by down-regulating the regulatory gene mexS. In addition to affecting drug resistance genes, transcripts of quorum sensing genes (rhlIR and pqsABCDE-phnAB), were significantly up-regulated in both parS and parR mutants. Consistent with these results, a significant portion of the ParS/ParR regulated genes belonged to the MexEF-OprN and quorum sensing regulons. Deletion of par genes also lead to overproduction of phenazines and increased swarming motility, consistent with the up-regulation of quorum sensing genes. Our results established a link among ParS/ParR, MexEF-OprN and quorum sensing in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Based on these results, we propose a model to illustrate the relationship among these regulatory systems in P. aeruginosa. A total of 9 samples were analyzed in AB medium + 2% casamino acids, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 wild type strain (3 replicates); Pseudomonas aeruginosa parS mutant (3 replicates); Pseudomonas aeruginosa parR mutant (3 replicates).