TY - JOUR
T1 - Interspecies metabolic complementation in cystic fibrosis pathogens via purine exchange
AU - Mahmud, Hafij Al
AU - Baishya, Jiwasmika
AU - Wakeman, Catherine A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research work in the Wakeman lab was supported by NIH/NIGMS (R15GM128072).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/2
Y1 - 2021/2
N2 - Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease frequently associated with chronic lung infections caused by a consortium of pathogens. It is common for auxotrophy (the inability to biosynthesize certain essential metabolites) to develop in clinical isolates of the dominant CF pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, indicating that the CF lung environment is replete in various nutrients. Many of these nutrients are likely to come from the host tissues, but some may come from the surrounding polymicrobial community within the lungs of CF patients as well. To assess the feasibility of nutrient exchange within the polymicrobial community of the CF lung, we selected P. aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, two of the most prevalent species found in the CF lung environment. By comparing the polymicrobial culture of wild-type strains relative to their purine auxotrophic counterparts, we were able to observe metabolic complementation occurring in both P. aeruginosa and S. aureus when grown with a purine-producing cross-species pair. While our data indicate that some of this complementation is likely derived from extracellular DNA freed by lysis of S. aureus by the highly competitive P. aeruginosa, the partial complementation of S. aureus purine deficiency by P. aeruginosa demonstrates that bidirectional nutrient exchange between these classic competitors is possible.
AB - Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease frequently associated with chronic lung infections caused by a consortium of pathogens. It is common for auxotrophy (the inability to biosynthesize certain essential metabolites) to develop in clinical isolates of the dominant CF pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, indicating that the CF lung environment is replete in various nutrients. Many of these nutrients are likely to come from the host tissues, but some may come from the surrounding polymicrobial community within the lungs of CF patients as well. To assess the feasibility of nutrient exchange within the polymicrobial community of the CF lung, we selected P. aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, two of the most prevalent species found in the CF lung environment. By comparing the polymicrobial culture of wild-type strains relative to their purine auxotrophic counterparts, we were able to observe metabolic complementation occurring in both P. aeruginosa and S. aureus when grown with a purine-producing cross-species pair. While our data indicate that some of this complementation is likely derived from extracellular DNA freed by lysis of S. aureus by the highly competitive P. aeruginosa, the partial complementation of S. aureus purine deficiency by P. aeruginosa demonstrates that bidirectional nutrient exchange between these classic competitors is possible.
KW - Auxotrophy
KW - Cross feeding
KW - Cystic fibrosis infection
KW - Polymicrobial interactions
KW - Pseudomonas aeruginosa
KW - Purine
KW - Staphylococcus aureus
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100513100&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/pathogens10020146
DO - 10.3390/pathogens10020146
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85100513100
VL - 10
SP - 1
EP - 10
JO - Pathogens
JF - Pathogens
SN - 2076-0817
IS - 2
M1 - 146
ER -