SMANIA ANDREA
Congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Impact of mismatch repair system on the evolution of pseudomonas aeruginosa in chronically infected cystic fibrosis patients
Autor/es:
FELIZIANI S; MOLIN S; SMANIA AM
Lugar:
Copenague
Reunión:
Congreso; Second European Congress on Microbial Biofilms EUROBIOFILMS 2011; 2011
Resumen:
The majority of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients acquire P. aeruginosa during early childhood, and most of them develop chronic lung disease. Often the same bacteria persist as chronic airway infections throughout the life-time of the patients. The biofilm mode of growth provides protection against antibiotics, reactive oxygen species and the host immune response. Additionally, P. aeruginosa undergoes genetic diversification based on mutagenic events, leading to the emergence, selection and fixation of multiple phenotypic adapted variants as mucoid, small and avirulent variants, among others. Interestingly, mutators (mainly due to deficiency in DNA mismatch repair) are also highly selected and highly prevalent in CF chronic airways infections. Recent research suggests that mutators may contribute to P. aeruginosa adaptation to the CF airways environment, since their presence is found to be strongly linked to the acquisition of beneficial mutations, such as those conferring antibiotic resistance. Nevertheless, the role of mutators in CF infection persistence remains to be completely elucidated. In this context, the aim of this project is to study the impact of hypermutability on the phenotypic diversification as well as on the dynamics and structure of P. aeruginosa genome in the CF chronic airways infections model. By performing longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis of collections of isolates obtained from CF patients harboring mutator strains, the project intends to perform an exhaustive phenotypical and genotypical characterization, which will elucidate the global evolutionary scenario that the bacteria undergo during chronic infection.
