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Phosphorus stress induces the synthesis of novel glycolipids in Pseudomonas aeruginosa that confer protection against a last-resort antibiotic.

ABSTRACT: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a nosocomial pathogen with a prevalence in immunocompromised individuals and is particularly abundant in the lung microbiome of cystic fibrosis patients. A clinically important adaptation for bacterial pathogens during infection is their ability to survive and proliferate under phosphorus-limited growth conditions. Here, we demonstrate that P. aeruginosa adapts to P-limitation by substituting membrane glycerophospholipids with sugar-containing glycolipids through a lipid renovation pathway involving a phospholipase and two glycosyltransferases. Combining bacterial genetics and multi-omics (proteomics, lipidomics and metatranscriptomic analyses), we show that the surrogate glycolipids monoglucosyldiacylglycerol and glucuronic acid-diacylglycerol are synthesised through the action of a new phospholipase (PA3219) and two glycosyltransferases (PA3218 and PA0842). Comparative genomic analyses revealed that this pathway is strictly conserved in all P. aeruginosa strains isolated from a range of clinical and environmental settings and actively expressed in the metatranscriptome of cystic fibrosis patients. Importantly, this phospholipid-to-glycolipid transition comes with significant ecophysiological consequence in terms of antibiotic sensitivity. Mutants defective in glycolipid synthesis survive poorly when challenged with polymyxin B, a last-resort antibiotic for treating multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa. Thus, we demonstrate an intriguing link between adaptation to environmental stress (nutrient availability) and antibiotic resistance, mediated through membrane lipid renovation that is an important new facet in our understanding of the ecophysiology of this bacterium in the lung microbiome of cystic fibrosis patients.

SUBMITTER: Jones RA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8528852 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Phosphorus stress induces the synthesis of novel glycolipids in Pseudomonas aeruginosa that confer protection against a last-resort antibiotic.

Jones Rebekah A RA Shropshire Holly H Zhao Caimeng C Murphy Andrew A Lidbury Ian I Wei Tao T Scanlan David J DJ Chen Yin Y

The ISME journal 20210524 11

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a nosocomial pathogen with a prevalence in immunocompromised individuals and is particularly abundant in the lung microbiome of cystic fibrosis patients. A clinically important adaptation for bacterial pathogens during infection is their ability to survive and proliferate under phosphorus-limited growth conditions. Here, we demonstrate that P. aeruginosa adapts to P-limitation by substituting membrane glycerophospholipids with sugar-containing glycolipids through a lipi ...[more]

PMID: 34031546

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Project description:Chronic infections with Pseudomonas aeruginosa are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in persons with cystic fibrosis (pwCF). P. aeruginosa persists in the CF lung by utilizing adaptation strategies to cause infection, including altering the expression of metabolic genes to acquire nutrients that are abundant in the CF airway. Glycerol in the airway is imported and metabolized by the glp regulon, which is under the control of the GlpR repressor. It has been shown that the loss of GlpR results in increased biofilm development in P. aeruginosa CF isolate compared to a wound isolate. Based on the increased biofilm phenotype observed and because biofilms are associated with increased antibiotic tolerance, we questioned whether GlpR plays a role in mediating antibiotic resistance of P. aeruginosa. We measured tobramycin tolerance in wild-type and glpR-defective P. aeruginosa isolates from the CF airway (FRD1) and a wound (PAO1). Cultures were grown in lysogeny broth or synthetic cystic fibrosis sputum consisting of the base formula of primarily amino acids (SCFM1) or supplemented with mucins and DNA (SCFM2), with dose-dependent concentrations of tobramycin. We tested the impact of a glpR mutation on P. aeruginosa adherence on bronchial epithelial cells from pwCF (CFBE) in the presence of tobramycin. CFBE cells were inoculated at an MOI of ~1:20 for 1 hour, given fresh apical media for 5 more hours, then apical and basal media was replaced with media containing 20 µg/ml tobramycin. We measured colony forming units (CFUs) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release for cytotoxicity. Loss of glpR increased tolerance to tobramycin in both the PAO1 and FRD1 backgrounds in vitro at a concentration of 0.625 µg/mL in lysogeny broth and SCFM1. On both CFBE’s and 16HBE’s, the antibiotic resistance phenotype was more prominent in FRD1 glpR with a 2-log increase in viable bacteria when grown on cells and treated with 20 ug/ml tobramycin. However, changes in cytotoxicity where not observed between wildtype and GlpR mutants as LDH measurements were not significantly different. Our results indicate that GlpR may regulate antibiotic tolerance, in addition to biofilm development and glycerol metabolism. Additional studies are necessary to determine the mechanism of how GlpR modulates biofilm development and antibiotic tolerance.

Dataset Information

Phosphorus stress induces the synthesis of novel glycolipids in Pseudomonas aeruginosa that confer protection against a last-resort antibiotic.

Publications

Phosphorus stress induces the synthesis of novel glycolipids in Pseudomonas aeruginosa that confer protection against a last-resort antibiotic.

Similar Datasets

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