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The Presence of Quorum-Sensing Genes in Pseudomonas isolates Infecting Cystic Fibrosis and Non-cystic Fibrosis Patients

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Abstract

Ninety-one Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates recovered from cystic fibrosis and non-cystic fibrosis patients were evaluated regarding the ability to form biofilm and acyl-homoserine lactones production and for the presence of five quorum-sensing (QS) regulatory genes (lasI, lasR, rhlI, rhlR, and vfr). Most isolates (90.1 %) presented all five QS genes. Five isolates shown to be lasI/lasR-deficient were not able to produce biofilm in vitro. Moreover, one isolate harboring all five QS genes was also not able to form a biofilm. The function of rhlR gene may be compensated by the las QS system. However, in our study, all isolates which were deficient for the rhlR gene were also deficient for the lasI/lasR system. This may point to some hierarchy in QS regulation which may pose a potential for controlling biofilm infections due to P. aeruginosa.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the staff of molecular biology at Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA) and Ana Lúcia Souza Antunes for technical support with the PCR procedure and phenotypic tests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ciências Farmacêuticas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Avenida Ipiranga, 2752, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, 90610-000, Brazil

    Leandro Reus Rodrigues Perez & Afonso Luís Barth

  2. Unidade de Microbiologia e Biologia Molecular, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Alice Beatriz Mombach Pinheiro Machado & Afonso Luís Barth

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  1. Leandro Reus Rodrigues Perez
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  2. Alice Beatriz Mombach Pinheiro Machado
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  3. Afonso Luís Barth
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Correspondence to Leandro Reus Rodrigues Perez.

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Perez, L.R.R., Machado, A.B.M.P. & Barth, A.L. The Presence of Quorum-Sensing Genes in Pseudomonas isolates Infecting Cystic Fibrosis and Non-cystic Fibrosis Patients. Curr Microbiol 66, 418–420 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-012-0290-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-012-0290-5

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