IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v426y2003i6964d10.1038_nature02122.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A genetic basis for Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm antibiotic resistance

Author

Listed:
  • Thien-Fah Mah

    (Dartmouth Medical School)

  • Betsey Pitts

    (Montana State University)

  • Brett Pellock

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center)

  • Graham C. Walker

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Philip S. Stewart

    (Montana State University)

  • George A. O'Toole

    (Dartmouth Medical School)

Abstract

Biofilms are surface-attached microbial communities with characteristic architecture and phenotypic and biochemical properties distinct from their free-swimming, planktonic counterparts1. One of the best-known of these biofilm-specific properties is the development of antibiotic resistance that can be up to 1,000-fold greater than planktonic cells2. We report a genetic determinant of this high-level resistance in the Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We have identified a mutant of P. aeruginosa that, while still capable of forming biofilms with the characteristic P. aeruginosa architecture, does not develop high-level biofilm-specific resistance to three different classes of antibiotics. The locus identified in our screen, ndvB, is required for the synthesis of periplasmic glucans. Our discovery that these periplasmic glucans interact physically with tobramycin suggests that these glucose polymers may prevent antibiotics from reaching their sites of action by sequestering these antimicrobial agents in the periplasm. Our results indicate that biofilms themselves are not simply a diffusion barrier to these antibiotics, but rather that bacteria within these microbial communities employ distinct mechanisms to resist the action of antimicrobial agents.

Suggested Citation

  • Thien-Fah Mah & Betsey Pitts & Brett Pellock & Graham C. Walker & Philip S. Stewart & George A. O'Toole, 2003. "A genetic basis for Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm antibiotic resistance," Nature, Nature, vol. 426(6964), pages 306-310, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:426:y:2003:i:6964:d:10.1038_nature02122
    DOI: 10.1038/nature02122
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02122
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature02122?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kulyash Meiramkulova & Aliya Temirbekova & Gulnur Saspugayeva & Assel Kydyrbekova & Davud Devrishov & Zhanar Tulegenova & Karlygash Aubakirova & Nataliya Kovalchuk & Abdilda Meirbekov & Timoth Mkilima, 2021. "Performance of a Combined Treatment Approach on the Elimination of Microbes from Poultry Slaughterhouse Wastewater," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-12, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:426:y:2003:i:6964:d:10.1038_nature02122. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.