Molecular Info® Copy Right © 2001
Institute of Molecular Development LLC
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Pseudomonas biofilm formation and antibiotic
resistance are linked to phenotypic variation
ELIANA DRENKARD AND FREDERICK M. AUSUBEL
The Nature, April 2002, 416: 740 - 743 .
Colonization of the lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients by the
opportunistic bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the principal cause of
mortality in CF populations. Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections persist despite the use of
long-term antibiotic therapy. This has been explained by postulating that P. aeruginosa
forms an antibiotic-resistant biofilm consisting of bacterial communities embedded in an
exopolysaccharide matrix. Alternatively, it has been proposed that resistant P. aeruginosa
variants may be selected in the CF respiratory tract by antimicrobial therapy itself. They found
that both explanations are correct, and are interrelated.
Antibiotic-resistant phenotypic variants of P. aeruginosa with enhanced ability to form
biofilms arise at high frequency both in vitro and in the lungs of CF patients. They
identified a regulatory protein (PvrR) that controls the conversion between antibiotic-resistant
and antibiotic-susceptible forms. Compounds that affect PvrR function could have an important
role in the treatment of CF infections.
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