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Journal of Bacteriology, September 2001, p. 5395-5401, Vol. 183, No. 18
Department of Microbiology, Technical
University of Denmark, 2800 Lyngby, Denmark,1
and Department of Civil Engineering, Northwestern
University, Evanston, Illinois 602082
Received 20 February 2001/Accepted 15 June 2001
During the course of chronic cystic fibrosis (CF) infections,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa undergoes a conversion to a mucoid
phenotype, which is characterized by overproduction of the
exopolysaccharide alginate. Chronic P. aeruginosa
infections involve surface-attached, highly antibiotic-resistant
communities of microorganisms organized in biofilms. Although biofilm
formation and the conversion to mucoidy are both important aspects of
CF pathogenesis, the relationship between them is at the present
unclear. In this study, we report that the overproduction of alginate
affects biofilm development on an abiotic surface. Biofilms formed by
an alginate-overproducing strain exhibit a highly structured
architecture and are significantly more resistant to the antibiotic
tobramycin than a biofilm formed by an isogenic nonmucoid strain. These
results suggest that an important consequence of the conversion to
mucoidy is an altered biofilm architecture that shows increasing
resistance to antimicrobial treatments.
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.18.5395-5401.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Alginate Overproduction Affects Pseudomonas
aeruginosa Biofilm Structure and Function
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Environmental
Health Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Northwestern
University, 2145 Sheridan Rd., Evanston, IL 60208. Phone: (847)
467-7445. Fax: (847) 491-4011. E-mail: m-parsek{at}nwu.edu.
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