Loss of a pyoverdine secondary receptor in Pseudomonas aeruginosa results in a fitter strain suitable for population invasion.

ABSTRACT: The rapid emergence of antibiotic resistant bacterial pathogens constitutes a critical problem in healthcare and requires the development of novel treatments. Potential strategies include the exploitation of microbial social interactions based on public goods, which are produced at a fitness cost by cooperative microorganisms, but can be exploited by cheaters that do not produce these goods. Cheater invasion has been proposed as a 'Trojan horse' approach to infiltrate pathogen populations with strains deploying built-in weaknesses (e.g., sensitiveness to antibiotics). However, previous attempts have been often unsuccessful because population invasion by cheaters was prevented by various mechanisms including the presence of spatial structure (e.g., growth in biofilms), which limits the diff

SUBMITTER: Gonzalez J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8115555 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature