Project description:P. aeruginosa bacteremia in cancer and bone marrow transplant patients transpires when P. aeruginosa colonizes the GI tract and translocates when the host undergoes immunosuppression. We used microarrays to analyze gene expression when P. aeruginosa transitions from being in the drinking water to when it colonizes the murine GI tract. to analyze gene expression changes in P. aeruginosa as it transitions from living in the drinking water to when it colonizes the murine GI tract.
Project description:P. aeruginosa bacteremia in cancer and bone marrow transplant patients transpires when P. aeruginosa colonizes the GI tract and translocates when the host undergoes immunosuppression. We used microarrays to analyze gene expression when P. aeruginosa transitions from being in the drinking water to when it colonizes the murine GI tract. to analyze gene expression changes in P. aeruginosa as it transitions from living in the drinking water to when it colonizes the murine GI tract. P. aeruginosa was recovered from the drinking water administered to adult C3H/HeN mice and also from murine cecums, and RNA was extracted and hybridized on Affymetrix microarrays.
Project description:Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most frequent pathogen dominant in complicated urinary tract infections (UTI). To unravel the adaptation strategies of P. aeruginosa to the conditions in the urinary tract and to define the underlying regulatory network an artificial growth system mimicking the conditions in the urinary tract was established. Transcriptome analyses were used to investigate the physiological status of P. aeruginosa under this conditions.
Project description:We investigated the specific interactions of the most dominant bacterial CF-pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the anaerobic bacterium Veilllonella parvula, that has been recovered at comparable cell numbers in the respiratory tract of CF patients. We used our recently established in-vivo murine tumor model to investigate mutual influences of the two pathogens during a biofilm-associated infection process. We found that although P. aeruginosa and V. parvula colonized distinct niches within the tumor, in mice that were co-infected with both bacterial species significant higher cell numbers of P. aeruginosa were recovered from the tumor tissue. Concordantly, in vivo transcriptional profiling implied that the presence of V. parvula supports P. aeruginosa growth at the infected host site, and the higher P. aeruginosa load correlated with clinical deterioration. We cultivated P. aeruginosa PA14 and V. parvula DSM No.:2008 in mono- and co-cultures in vivo using an established murine tumor model. Corresponding in vitro samples were generated under anaerobe growth conditions.
Project description:We investigated the specific interactions of the most dominant bacterial CF-pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the anaerobic bacterium Veilllonella parvula, that has been recovered at comparable cell numbers in the respiratory tract of CF patients. We used our recently established in-vivo murine tumor model to investigate mutual influences of the two pathogens during a biofilm-associated infection process. We found that although P. aeruginosa and V. parvula colonized distinct niches within the tumor, in mice that were co-infected with both bacterial species significant higher cell numbers of P. aeruginosa were recovered from the tumor tissue. Concordantly, in vivo transcriptional profiling implied that the presence of V. parvula supports P. aeruginosa growth at the infected host site, and the higher P. aeruginosa load correlated with clinical deterioration.
Project description:Surfing motility is a complex adaptation that is different from swarming motility and requires the stringent stress response in Pseudomonas aeruginosa LESB58 Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease that affects mucin-producing body organs such as the lungs. Characteristic of CF is the production of thick and sticky mucus that can lead to progressive airway obstruction. The glycoprotein mucin is the major macromolecular component of mucus. Recently, we identified that the presence of mucin induced a rapid surface adaptation termed surfing motility in motile bacteria. P. aeruginosa, the main colonizing pathogen in CF employs several stress coping mechanisms to survive the highly viscous environment of the CF lung. Here, RNA-Seq was used to study the stringent stress response in the hypervirulent CF isolate LESB58 (Liverpool Epidemic Strain) via transcriptional profiling. As the stringent response is regulated by relA and spoT, we created a double knockout of these genes in LESB58 to study the impact of these stress regulators on surfing motility using RNA-Seq.
Project description:Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most frequent pathogen dominant in complicated urinary tract infections (UTI). To unravel the adaptation strategies of P. aeruginosa to the conditions in the urinary tract and to define the underlying regulatory network an artificial growth system mimicking the conditions in the urinary tract was established. Transcriptome analyses were used to investigate the physiological status of P. aeruginosa under this conditions. We performed comparisons to identify genes induced under artificial urinary tract conditions to unravel the adaptive strategies and the underlying regulatory network used by Pseudomonas aeruginosa during urinary tract infections using Affimetrix GeneChips. Pseudomonas aeruginosa wild type strain PAO1 was grown in an artificial in vitro growth system mimicking the conditions in the urinary tract. Therefore, biofilms were grown on the surface of membrane filters placed on agar plates at 37 °C up to the late logarithmic state under aerobic and anaerobic conditions (incubated in an anaerobic beanch). An artificial urine medium (AUM) simulating the averaged urine of an human adult was used as nutrient souce. 10-fold diluted Luria Bertani (LB)-medium was used as reference medium. For growth under oxygen depletion the media were supplemented with 50 mM KNO3 to sustain anaerobic respiration. The biofilms were harveted at this time points and resuspsended in 0.9% (w/v) NaCl. The OD578 of biofilm suspension was 0.8 for all tested conditions. First comparison: Identification of genes induced or repressed under aerobic conditions in the P. aeruginosa wild type PAO1. Here we compared the transcriptome profile of P. aeruginosa PAO1 grown aerobically for 18 h to the late logarithmic phase in biofilms on AUM with the transcriptome profile of the PAO1 strain, which was grown aerobically for 18 h to the late logarithmic phase in biofilms on 10-fold diluted LB. Second comparison: Identification of genes induced or repressed under anaerobic conditions in the P. aeruginosa wild type PAO1. Here we compared the transcriptome profile of P. aeruginosa PAO1 grown anaerobically for 2 days up to the late logarithmic phase in biofilms on AUM supplemented with 50 mM nitrate with the transcriptome profile of the PAO1 strain, which was grown anaerobically for 2 days up to the late logarithmic phase in biofilms on 10-fold diluted LB supplemented with 50 mM nitrate.
Project description:Pseudomonas aeruginosa is known as opportunistic pathogen frequently isolated from different infection sites such as burned wounds, lung and urinary tract. To shed light on the expression rates of cytoplasmic P. aeruginosa proteins, commonly expressed by eleven different clinical isolates, absolute protein quantities were determined using P. aeruginosa PAO1 as a reference strain and employing a highly precise gel-free and data-independent LC-IMSE approach. Moreover, the metabolic diversity of these isolates has been investigated by 13C-metabolic flux analyses. 903 proteins were reproducibly identified and absolutely quantified for P. aeruginosa PAO1, 363 of which were also identified and relatively quantified in all of the tested clinical isolates. The vast majority of these proteins is expressed in constant amounts in all strains and exhibits a relatively low relative standard deviation. In contrast, the expression rates of 42 proteins were highly variable between the isolates. Notably, the outer membrane protein OprH and the response regulator PhoP were strongly expressed in isolates from burned wounds when compared to isolates from lung or urinary tract. Moreover, proteins involved in the uptake of iron and amino acids (i.e. HitA, BfrB, PA5217, BraC, PA5153) were found to be more abundant in urinary tract isolates compared to lung isolates. The fluxome data revealed a conserved glycolysis, and a niche-specific divergence in fluxes through the glyoxylate shunt and the TCA cycle among the isolates. The integrated analysis of proteome and fluxome did not indicate straightforward correlation between the amount of proteins and their flux, but rather points to additional layers of regulation that mediate metabolic adaption of P. aeruginosa to different host environments.
Project description:This study addresses the impact of zinc limitation on the opportunistic human pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Zinc limitation was assessed in the P. aeruginosa PAO1 strain using an isogenic deletion mutant lacking the periplasmic, zinc solute-binding protein, znuA (PA5498). ZnuA delivers bound zinc to its cognate ABC transporter, ZnuBC, for import into the cytoplasm. Our transcriptional analyses revealed P. aeruginosa to possess a multitude of zinc acquisition mechanisms, each of which were highly up-regulated in the zinc-deficient znuA mutant strain. P. aeruginosa also utilized zinc-independent paralogues of zinc-dependent genes to maintain cellular function under zinc limitation. Together, these data reveal the complex transcriptional response and versatility of P. aeruginosa to zinc depletion.
Project description:Enterococcus faecalis is often co-isolated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa in mixed-species biofilm-associated infections of wounds and the urinary tract. As a defence strategy, the host innately restricts iron availability at infection sites. Despite their co-prevalence, the polymicrobial interactions of these two pathogens in low iron conditions, such as those found in the host, remains unexplored. Here we show that E. faecalis inhibits P. aeruginosa growth within macrocolony biofilms when iron is restricted. E. faecalis lactate dehydrogenase (ldh1) gives rise to L-lactate production during fermentative growth. We find that E. faecalis ldh1 mutant fails to inhibit P. aeruginosa growth. Additionally, we demonstrate that ldh1 expression is induced when iron is restricted, resulting in increased lactic acid exported and consequently, a reduction in pH. Together, our results suggest that E. faecalis synergistically impact P. aeruginosa growth negatively by decreasing environmental pH and L-lactate-mediated iron chelation. Overall, this study highlights that the microenvironment in which the infection occurs is important for understanding its pathophysiology.