A quadruple knockout of lasIR and rhlIR of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 that retains wild-type twitching motility has equivalent infectivity and persistence to PAO1 in a mouse model of lung infection.

It has been widely reported that quorum-sensing incapable strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa are less virulent than wild type strains. However, quorum sensing mutants of P. aeruginosa have been shown to develop other spontaneous mutations under prolonged culture conditions, and one of the phenotypes of P. aeruginosa that is frequently affected by this phenomenon is type IV pili-dependent motility, referred to as twitching motility. As twitching motility has been reported to be important for adhesion and colonisation, we aimed to generate a quorum-sensing knockout for which the heritage was recorded and the virulence factor production in areas unrelated to quorum sensing was known to be intact. We created a lasIRrhlIR quadruple knockout in PAO1 using a published technique that allows for the deletion of antibiotic resistance cartridges following mutagenesis, to create an unmarked QS knockout of PAO1, thereby avoiding the need for use of antibiotics in culturing, which can have subtle effects on bacterial phenotype. We phenotyped this mutant demonstrating that it produced reduced levels of protease and elastase, barely detectable levels of pyoverdin and undetectable levels of the quorum sensing signal molecules N-3-oxododecanoly-L-homoserine lactone and N-butyryl homoserine lactone, but retained full twitching motility. We then used a mouse model of acute lung infection with P. aeruginosa to demonstrate that the lasIRrhlIR knockout strain showed equal persistence to wild type parental PAO1, induced equal or greater neutrophil infiltration to the lungs, and induced similar levels of expression of inflammatory cytokines in the lungs and similar antibody responses, both in terms of magnitude and isotype. Our results suggest, in contrast to previous reports, that lack of quorum sensing alone does not significantly affect the immunogenicity, infectiveness and persistence of P. aeruginosa in a mouse model of acute lung infection.

Expression of PPARγ and paraoxonase 2 correlated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in cystic fibrosis.

The Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing signal molecule N-3-oxododecanoyl-l-homoserine lactone (3OC(12)HSL) can inhibit function of the mammalian anti-inflammatory transcription factor peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR)γ, and can be degraded by human paraoxonase (PON)2. Because 3OC(12)HSL is detected in lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients infected with P. aeruginosa, we investigated the relationship between P. aeruginosa infection and gene expression of PPARγ and PON2 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of children with CF. Total RNA was extracted from cell pellets of BALF from 43 children aged 6 months-5 years and analyzed by reverse transcription-quantitative real time PCR for gene expression of PPARγ, PON2, and P. aeruginosa lasI, the 3OC(12)HSL synthase. Patients with culture-confirmed P. aeruginosa infection had significantly lower gene expression of PPARγ and PON2 than patients without P. aeruginosa infection. All samples that were culture-positive for P. aeruginosa were also positive for lasI expression. There was no significant difference in PPARγ or PON2 expression between patients without culture-detectable infection and those with non-Pseudomonal bacterial infection, so reduced expression was specifically associated with P. aeruginosa infection. Expression of both PPARγ and PON2 was inversely correlated with neutrophil counts in BALF, but showed no correlation with other variables evaluated. Thus, lower PPARγ and PON2 gene expression in the BALF of children with CF is associated specifically with P. aeruginosa infection and neutrophilia. We cannot differentiate whether this is a cause or the effect of P. aeruginosa infection, but propose that the level of expression of these genes may be a marker for susceptibility to early acquisition of P. aeruginosa in children with CF.