Two unrelated Pseudomonas aeruginosa phages require the exopolysaccharide Psl for infection.

ABSTRACT: Bacteria commonly protect themselves from a variety of threats by forming biofilms, which are communities of bacteria that are tightly packed together within an extracellular matrix. Biofilm formation has generally been thought to protect bacteria from phage infection. The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces biofilm matrices that can contain three distinct exopolysaccharides that contribute to the difficulty in treating infected patients. Here, we demonstrate that two diverse P. aeruginosa phages have evolved to exploit this biofilm matrix to access the bacterial cells by both binding to and degrading a major biofilm exopolysaccharide, Psl. We examined the effect of these phages on biofilms in different in vitro biofilm models and found that both phages prevent bacterial

SUBMITTER: Amyx-Sherer K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12627681 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature