Mucoidy, Quorum Sensing, Mismatch Repair and Antibiotic Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa from Cystic Fibrosis Chronic Airways Infections?

SOFÍA FELIZIANI; ADELA M. LUJÁN; ALEJANDRO J. MOYANO; CLAUDIA SOLA; JOSÉ L. BOCCO; PATRICIA MONTANARO; LILIANA FERNÁNDEZ CANIGIA; CARLOS E. ARGARAÑA; ANDREA M. SMANIA

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Año: 2010 vol. 5 p. 1 - 1

urvival of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis (CF) chronic infections is based on a genetic adaptation process consisting of mutations in specific genes, which can produce advantageous phenotypic switches and ensure its persistencein the lung. Among these, mutations inactivating the regulators MucA (alginate biosynthesis), LasR (quorum sensing) and MexZ (multidrug-efflux pump MexXY) are the most frequently observed, with those inactivating the DNA mismatch repairsystem (MRS) being also highly prevalent in P. aeruginosa CF isolates, leading to hypermutator phenotypes that could contribute to this adaptive mutagenesis by virtue of an increased mutation rate. Here, we characterized the mutationsfound in the mucA, lasR, mexZ and MRS genes in P. aeruginosa isolates obtained from Argentinean CF patients, and analyzed the potential association of mucA, lasR and mexZ mutagenesis with MRS-deficiency and antibiotic resistance. Thus, 38 isolates from 26 chronically infected CF patients we