title: In-vivo expression profiling of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections reveals niche-specific and strain-independent transcriptional programs.
abstract: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a threatening, opportunistic pathogen causing disease in immunocompromised individuals. The hallmark of P. aeruginosa virulence is its multi-factorial and combinatorial nature. It renders such bacteria infectious for many organisms and it is often resistant to antibiotics. To gain insights into the physiology of P. aeruginosa during infection, we assessed the transcriptional programs of three different P. aeruginosa strains directly after isolation from burn wounds of humans. We compared the programs to those of the same strains using two infection models: a plant model, which consisted of the infection of the midrib of lettuce leaves, and a murine tumor model, which was obtained by infection of mice with an induced tumor in the abdomen. All control conditions of P. aeruginosa cells growing in suspension and as a biofilm were added to the analysis. We found that these different P. aeruginosa strains express a pool of distinct genetic traits that are activated under particular infection conditions regardless of their genetic variability. The knowledge herein generated will advance our understanding of P. aeruginosa virulence and provide valuable cues for the definition of prospective targets to develop novel intervention strategies.
authors.affiliation: Systems and Synthetic Biology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bielecki
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Puchałka
authors.forename: Melissa L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Wos-Oxley
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Loessner
authors.forename: Justyna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Glik
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawecki
authors.forename: Mariusz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nowak
authors.forename: Burkhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tümmler
authors.forename: Siegfried
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Vítor A P Martins
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: dos Santos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D018441:Biofilms; D002056:Burns / Q000382:microbiology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D018545:Lactuca / Q000382:microbiology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000382:microbiology; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D013045:Species Specificity; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins