Chronic lung infection with bacterial
biofilms is one of the leading
causes of death in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Among many species
infecting the lung airways, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the major pathogen colonizing and persisting throughout the patient’s
life. The microorganism undergoes pathoadaptation, while switching
from a nonmucoid to a mucoid phenotype, improving the mechanical properties
of the resulting biofilms. Previous investigation of the dynamic rheological
properties of nonmucoid (PANT) and mucoid (PASL) clinical P. aeruginosa isolates exposed to interfacial stresses demonstrated
that the mucoid strains formed films with stronger resistance to bending
and nonlinear relaxation to compression and tension. We hypothesize
that the mucoid switch provides a growth advantage to P. aeruginosa through the development of interfacial films with viscoelastic properties
enabling cell survival. Here, we investigate the physiological response
of the mucoid and the nonmucoid P. aeruginosa to
interfacial entrapment. Our results, both macroscopic and molecular,
reveal that mucoid coating plays an important role in protecting the
bacteria from interfacial stresses. Cell characterizations using electron
and fluorescence microscopies showed higher proportion of dead nonmucoid
cells compared to mucoid cells on interfacial exposure. For example,
scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) imaging showed that
96.6% of nonmucoid cells vs only 22.2% of mucoid cells were lysed
owing to interfacial stress. Furthermore, the transcriptional profiling
of P. aeruginosa cells indicated the upregulation
of pel, psl, and alginate genes encoding for exopolysaccharide biomaterials
is associated with mucoid cells’ ability to cope with the interfacial
environments. Further characterization of real-time gene regulation
at interfaces will elucidate the effects of interfacial environment
on the regulation of bacterial virulence.
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