Desiccation tolerance in Acinetobacter baumannii is mediated by the two-component response regulator BfmR.

ABSTRACT: For the opportunistic pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii, desiccation tolerance is thought to contribute significantly to the persistence of these bacteria in the healthcare environment. We investigated the ability of A. baumannii to survive rapid drying, and found that some strains exhibited a profoundly desiccation-resistant phenotype, characterized by the ability of a large proportion of cells to survive on a dry surface for an extended period of time. However, this phenotype was only displayed during the stationary phase of growth. Most interestingly, we found that drying resistance could be lost after extended cultivation in liquid medium. Genome sequencing of isolates that became drying-sensitive identified mutations in bfmR, which encodes a two-component response regulator that is imp

SUBMITTER: Farrow JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6181384 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature