Analysis of colony phase variation switch in Acinetobacter baumannii clinical isolatesShow others and affiliations
2019 (English)In: PLoS ONE, ISSN 1932-6203, E-ISSN 1932-6203, Vol. 14, no 1, article id e0210082
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Reversible switching between opaque and translucent colony formation is a novel feature of Acinetobacter baumannii that has been associated with variations in the cell morphology, surface motility, biofilm formation, antibiotic resistance and virulence. Here, we assessed a number of phenotypic alterations related to colony switching in A. baumannii clinical isolates belonging to different multi-locus sequence types. Our findings demonstrated that these phenotypic alterations were mostly strain-specific. In general, the translucent subpopulations of A. baumannii produced more dense biofilms, were more piliated, and released larger amounts of outer membrane vesicles (OMVs). In addition, the translucent subpopulations caused reduced fertility of Caenorhabditis elegans. When assessed for effects on the immune response in RAW 264.7 macrophages, the OMVs isolated from opaque subpopulations of A. baumannii appeared to be more immunogenic than the OMVs from the translucent form. However, also the OMVs from the translucent subpopulations had the potential to evoke an immune response. Therefore, we suggest that OMVs may be considered for development of new immunotherapeutic treatments against A. baumannii infections.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Public Library Science , 2019. Vol. 14, no 1, article id e0210082
National Category
Microbiology in the medical area
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-155634DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210082ISI: 000454952800043PubMedID: 30608966OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-155634DiVA, id: diva2:1282682
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2015-03007Swedish Research Council, 2015-06824Swedish Research Council, 2016-06598Swedish Research Council, 349-2007-8673Swedish Research Council, 829-2006-7431The Kempe Foundations, JCK-1527The Kempe Foundations, JCK-17242019-01-252019-01-252019-01-25Bibliographically approved