Abstract
Modern medicine is currently facing huge setbacks concerning infection therapeutics as microorganisms are consistently knocking down every antimicrobial wall set before them. The situation becomes more worrying when taking into account that, in both environmental and disease scenarios, microorganisms present themselves as biofilm communities that are often polymicrobial. This comprises a competitive advantage, with interactions between different species altering host responses, antimicrobial effectiveness, microbial pathogenesis and virulence, usually augmenting the severity of the infection and contributing for the recalcitrance towards conventional therapy. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans are two opportunistic pathogens often co-isolated from infections, mainly from mucosal tissues like the lung. Despite the billions of years of co-existence, this pair of microorganisms is a great example on how little is known about cross-kingdom interactions, particularly within the context of coinfections. Given the described scenario, this study aimed to collect, curate, and analyze all published experimental information on the molecular basis of P. aeruginosa and C. albicans interactions in biofilms, in order to shed light into key mechanisms that may affect infection prognosis, increasing this area of knowledge. Publications were optimally retrieved from PubMed and Web of Science and classified as to their relevance. Data was then systematically and manually curated, analyzed, and further reconstructed as networks. A total of 641 interactions between the two pathogens were annotated, outputting knowledge on important molecular players affecting key virulence mechanisms, such as hyphal growth, and related genes and proteins, constituting potential therapeutic targets for infections related to these bacterial-fungal consortia. Contrasting interactions were also analyzed, and quorum-sensing inhibition approaches were highlighted. All annotated data was made publicly available at www.ceb.uminho.pt/ISCTD, a database already containing similar data for P. aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus communication. This will allow researchers to cut on time and effort when studying this particular subject, facilitating the understanding of the basis of the inter-species and inter-kingdom interactions and how it can be modulated to help design alternative and more effective tailored therapies. Finally, data deposition will serve as base for future dataset integration, whose analysis will hopefully give insights into communications in more complex and varied biofilm communities.
Highlights
In real scenarios, including natural, clinical, and industrial settings, microorganisms team up to survive the hostile environmental conditions they are continuously exposed to by building complex communities called biofilms
The respective data selection is shown in a table as an organized view of all interaction details, such as strains, modes of growth, experimental methods, and observations made by the expert curators
It is well known that P. aeruginosa and C. albicans coexist in many infections, but, the mechanisms of bacterial-fungal interactions remain unclear
Summary
In real scenarios, including natural, clinical, and industrial settings, microorganisms team up to survive the hostile environmental conditions they are continuously exposed to by building complex communities called biofilms. Their organization in these surfaceattached microbial communities, embedded in a self-produced matrix, facilitates the intercellular exchange of metabolites, genetic material, and signaling molecules (Flemming et al, 2016). Biofilms are less susceptible to predatory action and antimicrobial agents compared to their planktonic counterparts (Flemming and Wingender, 2010) In addition to this advantageous form of microbial life, one type of microorganisms often exists in close association with other microbial species. Recognition of the real impact of polymicrobial biofilms has triggered a recent interest towards the study of multi-species communities to learn more about their behavior (Short et al, 2014)
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