title: Which microbial factors really are important in Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections?
abstract: Over the last two decades, tens of millions of dollars have been invested in understanding virulence in the human pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. However, the top 'hits' obtained in a recent TnSeq analysis aimed at identifying those genes that are conditionally essential for infection did not include most of the known virulence factors identified in these earlier studies. Instead, it seems that P. aeruginosa faces metabolic challenges in vivo, and unless it can overcome these, it fails to thrive and is cleared from the host. In this review, we look at the kinds of metabolic pathways that the pathogen seems to find essential, and comment on how this knowledge might be therapeutically exploited.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry (Hopkins Building), Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QW, UK.
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crousilles
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry (Hopkins Building), Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QW, UK.
authors.forename: Eve
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maunders
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, UK.
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bartlett
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry (Hopkins Building), Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QW, UK.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Wellcome Trust/MRC Building, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 0XY, UK.
authors.forename: Emem-Fong
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Ukor
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry (Hopkins Building), Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QW, UK.
authors.forename: Yassmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Abdelhamid
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, UK.
authors.forename: Ysobel
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Wellcome Trust/MRC Building, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 0XY, UK.
authors.forename: Andres
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Floto
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, UK.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Spring
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry (Hopkins Building), Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QW, UK.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Welch
mesh_terms: D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000235:genetics; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology*; D014774:Virulence; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D037521:Virulence Factors
keywords: Pseudomonas aeruginosa; RNASeq; TnSeq; antimicrobial agents; cystic fibrosis; infection; metabolism; virulence