Positive signature-tagged mutagenesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: tracking patho-adaptive mutations promoting airways chronic infection.

ABSTRACT: The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa can establish life-long chronic infections in the airways of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Persistent lifestyle is established with P. aeruginosa patho-adaptive variants, which are clonal with the initially-acquired strains. Several reports indicated that P. aeruginosa adapts by loss-of-function mutations which enhance fitness in CF airways and sustain its clonal expansion during chronic infection. To validate this model of P. aeruginosa adaptation to CF airways and to identify novel genes involved in this microevolution, we designed a novel approach of positive-selection screening by PCR-based signature-tagged mutagenesis (Pos-STM) in a murine model of chronic airways infection. A systematic positive-selection scheme using sequential roun

SUBMITTER: Bianconi I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3033382 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature