Novel collective prey evasion response of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 to soil micropredator Myxococcus xanthus DK1622

<p>The search for alternative therapeutics is on the rise because of the threat of multi-drug resistant bacteria. Looking at the hunting strategy of soil-based bacterial micropredators is one avenue of exploration. Myxobacteria are soil predators with a wide prey range including Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, fungi, and archaea. In our lab we discovered a distinct and novel anti-predation behavior in <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa </em>strain 01. <em>P. aeruginosa</em> is an opportunistic and nosocomial pathogen responsible for 10% of all hospital acquired infections. <em>P. aeruginosa</em> is also an ESKAPE pathogen, which are leading causes of nosocomial infections throughout the world, and they are often multi-drug resistant. When standardized spots of micropredator <em>Myxococcus xanthus </em>DK1622 and prey were placed 1 millimeter apart on partial starvation media, most prey bacteria such as <em>Escherichia </em>coli K12 and <em>Staphylococcus </em>aureus displayed a three-log reduction in surviving cell counts following 48 hours of myxobacterial predation. However, under the same conditions PAO1 showed no reduction in surviving cells when compared to non-predation controls. Concurrently, we observed a retreat of prey cells at the junction between advancing <em>M. xanthus</em> front and the PAO1 spot, resembling a “fold”. This distinct evasion response was not observed in another <em>P. aeruginosa </em>strain, PA14, nor in other closely related pseudomonads we tested. Transposon mutants of the quorum sensing operon <em>pqs</em> and gene <em>rsaL</em>, did not possess the fold. Here we describe a novel predation resistance response observed in PAO1 and we aim to frame this predation response in the context of predation resistance responses seen in prey bacteria.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Integrative Biology (MSIB)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biology

Year dc:date.available

2023

Author dc:creator

• Lummus, Joshua

Contributors dc:contributor

• Melanie Griffin
• Andrew Haddow

• Pseudomonas
• Myxobacteria
• predation
• micropredator
• Biology
• Integrative Biology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/integrbiol_etd/106

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu:integrbiol_etd-1109