Evolution and Adaptation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms Driven by Mismatch Repair System-Deficient Mutators

LUJÁN AM; MACIA MD; LIANG Y; MOLIN S; OLIVER A; SMANIA AM

PLOS ONE

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Año: 2011 vol. 6 p. 27842 - 27842

1932-6203

seudomonas aeruginosa is an important opportunistic pathogen causing chronic airway infections, especially in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. The majority of the CF patients acquire P. aeruginosa during early childhood, and most of themdevelop chronic infections resulting in severe lung disease, which are rarely eradicated despite intensive antibiotic therapy.Current knowledge indicates that three major adaptive strategies, biofilm development, phenotypic diversification, and mutator phenotypes [driven by a defective mismatch repair system (MRS)], play important roles in P. aeruginosa chronic infections, but the relationship between these strategies is still poorly understood. We have used the flow-cell biofilm model system to investigate the impact of the mutS associated mutator phenotype on development, dynamics, diversification and adaptation of P. aeruginosa biofilms. Through competition experiments we demonstrate for the first time that P. aeruginosaMRS-deficient mutators had enha