The purpose of the present study was to explore the potential behavioural changes of Pseudomonas aeruginosa following growth in different aquatic environmental conditions. To achieve this, P. aeruginosa was cultured in various water microcosms for 12 months under fixed (pH, nutrients and temperature) factors. P. aeruginosa responses to these conditions were investigated using colony morphotype, biochemical and enzymatic characterisation, pyocin typing, serotyping, sensitivity to different classes of antibiotics and molecular identification. Results show that starvation in water microcosms lead to unusual phenotypes. Of interest is that the pyocin changed from 24/n in the wild type to 83/a following culture in the water microcosms, and the serotype changed from O6 in the wild type to O1 in microcosm-cultured P. aeruginosa. Furthermore, the starvation period in various aquatic microcosms enhanced the resistance of P. aeruginosa against beta-lactam antibiotics. Compared to the other aquatic environments, the seawater microcosm produced the greatest amount of variations in P. aeruginosa. Overall, data demonstrated a high adaptability of P. aeruginosa to environmental changes. This may explain the unusual antibiotic-resistant phenotypes belonging to P. aeruginosa species, and their capacity for spreading that leads to human infections.
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Research Article|
December 20 2012
Phenotypic stress response of Pseudomonas aeruginosa following culture in water microcosms
Jihane Cheriaa;
1Laboratory of Analysis, Treatment, Valorisation and Environmental Pollution and Products ‘LR01ES16’, Faculty of Pharmacy, Monastir Avicenne Street, 5000 Monastir, Tunisia
E-mail: [email protected]
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Mahmoud Rouabhia;
Mahmoud Rouabhia
2Groupe de recherche en écologie buccale, Faculté de Médecine dentaire, 2420 rue de la Terrasse, Université Laval, Québec G1V 0A6, Canada
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Makaoui Maatallah;
Makaoui Maatallah
1Laboratory of Analysis, Treatment, Valorisation and Environmental Pollution and Products ‘LR01ES16’, Faculty of Pharmacy, Monastir Avicenne Street, 5000 Monastir, Tunisia
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Amina Bakhrouf
Amina Bakhrouf
1Laboratory of Analysis, Treatment, Valorisation and Environmental Pollution and Products ‘LR01ES16’, Faculty of Pharmacy, Monastir Avicenne Street, 5000 Monastir, Tunisia
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J Water Health (2012) 10 (1): 130–139.
Article history
Received:
May 03 2011
Accepted:
September 23 2011
Citation
Jihane Cheriaa, Mahmoud Rouabhia, Makaoui Maatallah, Amina Bakhrouf; Phenotypic stress response of Pseudomonas aeruginosa following culture in water microcosms. J Water Health 1 March 2012; 10 (1): 130–139. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2011.072
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