The role of Pf filamentous phage in the biofilm development of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

• Main Author: Muhammad Hafiz Ismail
• Other Authors: Scott Rice
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Microbiology::Bacteria
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/60726
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that can form and grow as biofilms. The Pf4 filamentous phage in PAO1 has been demonstrated to be involved in biofilm killing, cell dispersal and also virulence. However, the role of a recently discovered second filamentous prophage, Pf6, is yet to be extensively studied. In this study, Pf phage and PAO1 was used to develop a model to better understand phage-host interactions during biofilm development. It was observed that in PAO1, Pf6 production was only seen in the late stages of biofilm growth as compared to the PAO1ΔPf4 biofilm where Pf6 production was earlier on day 4 which suggests a form of suppression by Pf4 on Pf6 prophage. Transcriptomic study of PAO1 and PAO1ΔPf4 early and late stage biofilms were also done to shed light on the differentially expressed genes with respect to the presence and absence of Pf4. It was observed that many virulence factor-associated genes were upregulated; in agreement that wild type P. aeruginosa is more virulent. The findings of this study provide evidence that Pf filamentous phages confers advantage to the host and that the prophage activity is more complex than initially understood.