C-di-GMP regulates pseudomonas aeruginosa stress response to tellurite during both planktonic and biofilm modes of growth

• Main Authors: Chua, Song Lin, Sivakumar, Krishnakumar, Rybtke, Morten, Yuan, Mingjun, Andersen, Jens Bo, Nielsen, Thomas Eiland, Givskov, Michael, Tolker-Nielsen, Tim, Cao, Bin, Kjelleberg, Staffan, Yang, Liang
• Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Microbiology::Microorganisms
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/105484; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/25959
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Stress response plays an important role on microbial adaptation under hostile environmental conditions. It is generally unclear how the signaling transduction pathway mediates a stress response in planktonic and biofilm modes of microbial communities simultaneously. Here, we showed that metalloid tellurite (TeO32–) exposure induced the intracellular content of the secondary messenger cyclic di-GMP (c-di-GMP) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Two diguanylate cyclases (DGCs), SadC and SiaD, were responsible for the increased intracellular content of c-di-GMP. Enhanced c-di-GMP levels by TeO32– further increased P. aeruginosa biofilm formation and resistance to TeO32–. P. aeruginosa ΔsadCΔsiaD and PAO1/plac-yhjH mutants with low intracellular c-di-GMP content were more sensitive to TeO32– exposure and had low relative fitness compared to the wild-type PAO1 planktonic and biofilm cultures exposed to TeO32–. Our study provided evidence that c-di-GMP level can play an important role in mediating stress response in microbial communities during both planktonic and biofilm modes of growth.