title: PA2800 plays an important role in both antibiotic susceptibility and virulence in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
abstract: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important human pathogen which causes a variety of infections. P. aeruginosa infections are often difficult to treat due to the pathogen's resistance to many antibiotics. Previously, it has been reported that a transposon insertion mutant in gene PA2800 of P. aeruginosa PAO1 was more sensitive to tetracycline and ciprofloxacin. Further characterization of this gene, a vacJ homolog, in this study indicated that this gene plays an important role in both antibiotic susceptibility and virulence in P. aeruginosa. The role of PA2800 in antibiotic susceptibility probably signifies its involvement in maintaining outer membrane stability, similar to the role of vacJ in E. coli and Shigella flexneri. However, in contrast to vacJ in other bacteria, PA2800 also affects antibiotic susceptibility by affecting the expression of oprH in P. aeruginosa. As shown by in vivo studies using a Drosophila                 melanogaster infection model, significantly increased virulence was observed in the PA2800 mutant when compared to the wild type, and such a difference is likely a result of disrupted outer membrane stability and altered expression of znuA in the mutant. The role of PA2800 or vacJ in antibiotic susceptibility and pathogenicity seems to be unique in P. aeruginosa in which it affects both outer membrane stability as well as gene expression.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Resources Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Faculty of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Lixin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Xiangli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Jinhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Kangmin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Duan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins