title: Reduction of PCN biosynthesis by NO in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
abstract: Pyocyanin (PCN), a virulence factor synthesized by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, plays an important role during clinical infections. There is no study of the effect of nitric oxide (NO) on PCN biosynthesis. Here, the effect of NO on PCN levels in Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PAO1, a common reference strain, was tested. The results showed that the NO donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) can significantly reduce PCN levels (82.5% reduction at 60μM SNP). Furthermore, the effect of endogenous NO on PCN was tested by constructing PAO1 nor (NO reductase gene) knockout mutants. Compared to the wild-type strain, the Δnor strain had a lower PCN (86% reduction in Δnor). To examine whether the results were universal with other P. aeruginosa strains, we collected 4 clinical strains from a hospital, tested their PCN levels after SNP treatment, and obtained similar results, i.e., PCN biosynthesis was inhibited by NO. These results suggest that NO treatment may be a new strategy to inhibit PCN biosynthesis and could provide novel insights into eliminating P. aeruginosa virulence as a clinical goal.
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Institute of Shaanxi, 76 Xingying Road, Xi'an 710043, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Yuying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Institute of Shaanxi, 76 Xingying Road, Xi'an 710043, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Xinhua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Institute of Shaanxi, 76 Xingying Road, Xi'an 710043, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zi
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China; Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Beijing 100069, China. Electronic address: changchen@moon.ibp.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Chang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Institute of Shaanxi, 76 Xingying Road, Xi'an 710043, China. Electronic address: wanyi6565@sina.com.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wan
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D009599:Nitroprusside / Q000378:metabolism; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D011710:Pyocyanine / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D009599:Nitroprusside; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D011710:Pyocyanine
keywords: Cystic fibrosis; Nitric oxide; Nitric oxide reductase; PCN biosynthesis; Pseudomonas aeruginosa