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Pseudomonas aeruginosa contracts mucus to rapidly form biofilms in tissue-engineered human airways

View ORCID ProfileTamara Rossy, View ORCID ProfileTania Distler, View ORCID ProfileJoern Pezoldt, Jaemin Kim, View ORCID ProfileLorenzo Talà, View ORCID ProfileNikolaos Bouklas, View ORCID ProfileBart Deplancke, View ORCID ProfileAlexandre Persat
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.26.493615
Tamara Rossy
1Global Health Institute, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
2Institute of Bioengineering, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
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Tania Distler
1Global Health Institute, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
2Institute of Bioengineering, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
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Joern Pezoldt
2Institute of Bioengineering, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
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Jaemin Kim
3Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
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Lorenzo Talà
1Global Health Institute, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
2Institute of Bioengineering, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
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Nikolaos Bouklas
3Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
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Bart Deplancke
2Institute of Bioengineering, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
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Alexandre Persat
1Global Health Institute, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
2Institute of Bioengineering, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
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  • For correspondence: alexandre.persat@epfl.ch
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Abstract

Bacteria commonly protect themselves by forming multicellular structures called biofilms. The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes antibiotic-recalcitrant pneumonia by forming biofilms in the respiratory tract. Despite extensive in vitro experimentation, how P. aeruginosa forms biofilms at the airway mucosal surface is unresolved. We investigated P. aeruginosa biofilm biogenesis in optically-accessible tissue-engineered human lung models that emulate the airway mucosal environment. We found that P. aeruginosa forms mucus-associated biofilms within hours, much faster than previously observed in in vitro experiments. Early during colonization, P. aeruginosa induces contractions of luminal mucus which accelerates bacterial aggregation. We show that P. aeruginosa uses retractile type IV pili to actively compress mucus. Our results suggest that, while protecting epithelia, mucus constitutes a breeding ground for biofilms.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted May 26, 2022.
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Pseudomonas aeruginosa contracts mucus to rapidly form biofilms in tissue-engineered human airways
Tamara Rossy, Tania Distler, Joern Pezoldt, Jaemin Kim, Lorenzo Talà, Nikolaos Bouklas, Bart Deplancke, Alexandre Persat
bioRxiv 2022.05.26.493615; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.26.493615
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Pseudomonas aeruginosa contracts mucus to rapidly form biofilms in tissue-engineered human airways
Tamara Rossy, Tania Distler, Joern Pezoldt, Jaemin Kim, Lorenzo Talà, Nikolaos Bouklas, Bart Deplancke, Alexandre Persat
bioRxiv 2022.05.26.493615; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.26.493615

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