Elevated c-di-GMP Levels and Expression of the Type III Secretion System Promote Corneal Infection by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

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  • Joey Kuok Hoong Yam
  • Thet Tun Aung
  • Song Lin Chua
  • Yingying Cheng
  • Gurjeet Singh Kohli
  • Jianuan Zhou
  • Florentin Constancias
  • Yang Liu
  • Zhao Cai
  • May Margarette Santillan Salido
  • Daniela I. Drautz-Moses
  • Scott A. Rice
  • Stephan Christoph Schuster
  • Zhao Zhi Boo
  • Bin Wu
  • Staffan Kjelleberg
  • Rajamani Lakshminarayanan
  • Roger W. Beuerman
  • Liang Yang

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is generally believed to establish biofilm-associated infections under the regulation of the secondary messenger c-di-GMP. To evaluate P. aeruginosa biofilm physiology during ocular infections, comparative transcriptomic analysis was performed on wild-type P. aeruginosa PAO1, a DwspF mutant strain (high c-di-GMP levels), and a plac-yhjH-containing strain (low c-di-GMP levels) from mouse corneal infection, as well as in vitro biofilm and planktonic cultures. The c-di-GMP content in P. aeruginosa during corneal infection was monitored using a fluorescent c-di-GMP reporter strain. Biofilm-related genes were induced in in vivo PAO1 compared to in vitro planktonic bacteria. Several diguanylate cyclases and phosphodiesterases were commonly regulated in in vivo PAO1 and in vitro biofilm compared to in vitro planktonic bacteria. Several exopolysaccharide genes and motility genes were induced and downregulated, respectively, in in vivo PAO1 and the in vivo DwspF mutant compared to the in vivo plac-yhjH-containing strain. Elevation of c-di-GMP levels in P. aeruginosa began as early as 2 h postinfection. The DwspF mutant was less susceptible to host clearance than the plac-yhjH-containing strain and could suppress host immune responses. The type III secretion system (T3SS) was induced in in vivo PAO1 compared to in vitro biofilm bacteria. A DwspF mutant with a defective T3SS was more susceptible to host clearance than a DwspF mutant with a functional T3SS. Our study suggests that elevated intracellular c-di-GMP levels and T3SS activity in P. aeruginosa are necessary for establishment of infection and modulation of host immune responses in mouse cornea.

Original languageEnglish
JournalInfection and Immunity
Volume90
Issue number8
ISSN0019-9567
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Yam et al.

    Research areas

  • c-di-GMP, immune response, in vivo biofilms, mouse corneal infection, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, transcriptomics, type III secretion system

ID: 320647332