Transcriptomic Response of Human Nosocomial Pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms Following Continuous Exposure to Antibiotic-Impregnated Catheters

Abstract

Biofilms are complex surface-attached bacterial communities that serve as a protective survival strategy to adapt to an environment. Bacterial contamination and biofilm formation on implantable medical devices pose a serious threat to human health, and these biofilms have become the most important source of nosocomial infections. Although antimicrobial-impregnated catheters have been employed to prevent bacterial infection, there have been concerns about the potential emergence of antibiotic resistance. To investigate the risk of developing resistance, we performed RNA-sequencing gene expression profiling of P. aeruginosa biofilms in response to chronic exposure to clindamycin and rifampicin eluted from antibiotic-coated catheters in a CDC biofilm bioreactor. There were 877 and 178 differentially expressed genes identified in planktonic and biofilm cells after growth for 144 h with control (without antibiotic-impregnation) and clindamycin/rifampicin-impregnated catheters, respectively. The differentially expressed genes were further analyzed by Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs) functional classification and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses. The data are publicly available through the GEO database with accession number GSE153546.