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Published September 2018 | public
Journal Article

In situ gene expression analysis of mucoid P. aeruginosa biofilms suggests that alginate expression is restricted to microaerobic regions of the biofilm

Abstract

Mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa evolve during chronic cystic fibrosis (CF) infections and make robust biofilms that protect against antibiotics and the immune response. Previous measurements suggested that alginate gene expression is induced in response to low oxygen, however, these measurements were made in bulk liquid cultures. Because P. aeruginosa is thought to grow as biofilms in vivo and biofilms are known to exhibit large oxygen gradients, we wondered whether alginate production within biofilms might be localized to particular regions. We used confocal microscopy to determine where alginate transcripts are expressed within biofilm populations grown using the agar block biofilm assay (ABBA), which permits rapid study of biofilms; the ABBA assay establishes oxygen gradients over the entire aggregate population and within individual aggregates.

Additional Information

© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. First published: 07 September 2018.

Additional details

Created:
August 24, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023