Quorum sensing inhibits phage infection by regulating biofilm formation of P. aeruginosa PAO1

作者：Lei Cao, Jinhui Mi, Yile He, Guanhua Xuan, Jingxue Wang, Mengzhe Li, Yigang Tong · 发表于：Journal of Virology · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1128/jvi.01872-24 · 被引用次数：19 · 研究领域：Medicine

ABSTRACT Quorum sensing (QS) can regulate diverse critical phenotypic responses in Pseudomonas. aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), enabling bacterial adaptation to external environmental fluctuations and optimizing population advantages. While there is emerging evidence of QS’s involvement in influencing phage infections, our current understanding remains limited, necessitating further investigation. In this study, we isolated and characterized a novel phage designated as BUCT640 that infected P. aeruginosa PAO1. This phage belonged to class Caudoviricetes, genus Bruynoghevirus, with a podovirus morphology, and its adsorption was dependent on Psl polysaccharides, a repeating pentamer used to support biofilm structure. Leveraging phage BUCT640 as a model, we analyzed the role of both rhl QS and las QS in bacteria–phage interactions. Based on its distinctive plaque formation performances on different QS-related mutants, we investigated the variations of phage sensitivity to these strains and ultimately elucidated the mechanism underlying how QS inhibited phage infection to PAO1. Specifically, we unveiled that the las QS could inhibit phage adsorption, which is related to the thickness change caused by biofilm differentiation. Our findings suggest that the inhibition of QS may enhance phage infectivity, potentially facilitating advanced phage therapy combined with QS interference. IMPORTANCE Phage therapy is a powerful solution to combat drug-resistant pathogenic bacterial infections a...