Abstract
Bacteriophages are important in bacterial ecology and evolution. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most prevalent bacterial pathogen in chronic bronchopulmonary infection in cystic fibrosis (CF). In this study, we used bioinformatics, microbiological and microscopy techniques to analyze the bacteriophages present in 24 P. aeruginosa isolates belonging to the international CF clone (ST274-CC274). Interestingly, we detected the presence of five members of the Inoviridae family of prophages (Pf1, Pf4, Pf5, Pf6, Pf7), which have previously been observed in P. aeruginosa. In addition, we identified a new filamentous prophage, designated Pf8, in the P. aeruginosa AUS411.500 isolate belonging to the international CF clone. We detected only one prophage, never previously described, from the family Siphoviridiae (with 66 proteins and displaying homology with PHAGE_Pseudo_phi297_NC_016762). This prophage was isolated from the P. aeruginosa AUS531 isolate carrying a new gene which is implicated in the phage infection ability, named Bacteriophage Control Infection (bci). We characterized the role of the Bci protein in bacteriophage infection and in regulating the host Quorum Sensing (QS) system, motility and biofilm and pyocyanin production in the P. aeruginosa isogenic mutant AUS531Δbci isolate. The findings may be relevant for the identification of targets in the development of new strategies to control P. aeruginosa infections, particularly in CF patients.
Highlights
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous Gram-negative microorganism and a multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogen
We performed a genomic analysis of the 24 P. aeruginosa isolates belonging to the ST274 clonal complex (CC274) obtained from cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and of the reference P. aeruginosa PAO1 strain genome (GenBank: AE004091.2) (Table 2)
The inoviruses present in isolates AUS531 and FQSE15 were similar to the Pseudomonas Pf4 and Pf5 inoviruses, but the prophage detected in AUS411 was a new phage, designated Pf8_ST274-AUS411 (Hay and Lithgow, 2019; Li et al, 2019)
Summary
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous Gram-negative microorganism and a multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogen. It is the main pathogen that causes chronic respiratory infection in cystic fibrosis (CF) and is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality in CF patients. Bacteriophages are bacterial viruses that infect bacteria. Phages generally undergo a lytic (virulent) or lysogenic (temperate) life cycle. Lytic phages enter host cells and subsequently lyse and kill them, releasing phage progeny into the surrounding medium. Temperate phages possess the ability to go through a lysogenic cycle, entering the host cell and integrating their nucleic acid in the host genome or residing in the host cells as prophages, potentially existing in a stable state for generations until induced to start a lytic cycle (Clokie et al, 2011)
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