Effects of exogenous glucose on Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance

In this study, we investigated the effect of glucose on the biofilm formation ability ofP.  aeruginosa and carried out a metabolomic analysis to identify whether glucose alters the metabolic activity ofP.  aeruginosa in biofilms. We found that glucose efficiently promotedP.  aeruginosa biofilm formation by upregulating the expression of the extracellular polysaccharide ‐related genepslA. Treatment with glucose caused an increase in 7 metabolites (including 3 ‐hydroxypropionic acid, glucose‐6‐phosphate, and 2,3‐dimethylsuccinic acid) and a decrease in 18 metabolites (including myo‐inositol, glutamine, and methoxamedrine) in the biofilm. In addition, there was a synergistic effect between glucose and horse serum on biofilm formation when the two were added in combination, which also increased the resistance of biofilm to levofloxacin therapy. Thus, our work sheds light on the underlying mechanisms by which glucose may enhance biofilm formation and identifies novel targets for developing strategies to counteract biofilm formation.

Source: MicrobiologyOpen - September 17, 2019 Category: Microbiology Authors: Pengfei She, Yanle Wang, Yiqing Liu, Fang Tan, Lihua Chen, Zhen Luo, Yong Wu Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research