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Antibiotic-Induced Biofilm Formations in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strains KPW.1-S1 and HRW.1-S3 are Associated with Increased Production of eDNA and Exoproteins, Increased ROS Generation, and Increased Cell Surface Hydrophobicity

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Abstract

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a medically important opportunistic pathogen due to its intrinsic ability to form biofilms on different surfaces as one of the defense mechanisms for survival. The fact that it can form biofilms on various medical implants makes it more harmful clinically. Although various antibiotics are used to treat Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections, studies have shown that sub-MIC levels of antibiotics could induce Pseudomonas biofilm formation. The present study thus explored the effect of the aminoglycoside antibiotic gentamicin on the biofilm dynamics of two Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains KPW.1-S1 and HRW.1-S3. Biofilm formation was found to be increased in the presence of increased concentrations of gentamicin. Confocal, scanning electron microscopy, and other biochemical tests deduced that biofilm-forming components exoproteins, eDNA, and exolipids as exopolymeric substances in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms were increased in the presence of gentamicin. An increase in reactive oxygen species generation along with increased cell surface hydrophobicity was also seen for both strains when treated with gentamicin. The observed increase in the adherence of the cells accompanied by the increase in the components of exopolymeric substances may have largely contributed to the increased biofilm production by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains under the stress of the antibiotic treatment.

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Acknowledgements

All authors would like to acknowledge Ritabrata Ghosh and Kashinath Sahu for their technical support of confocal laser scanning and scanning electron microscopy, respectively.

Funding

The study was funded by IISER Kolkata.

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  1. Paromita Banerjee

    Present address: Kalinga University, Naya Raipur, CG, 492101, India

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, 741 246, India

    Abhinash Kumar, Saurav K. Saha, Paromita Banerjee, Kritika Prasad & Tapas K. Sengupta

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Contributions

AK and TKS conceived the study and designed the experiments. AK performed most of the experiments. SKS performed experiments on ROS generation and cell surface hydrophobicity. AK, SKS, PB, KP, and TKS analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Tapas K. Sengupta.

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Kumar, A., Saha, S.K., Banerjee, P. et al. Antibiotic-Induced Biofilm Formations in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strains KPW.1-S1 and HRW.1-S3 are Associated with Increased Production of eDNA and Exoproteins, Increased ROS Generation, and Increased Cell Surface Hydrophobicity. Curr Microbiol 81, 11 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-023-03495-7

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