Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Latest News

Recently, a team of researchers, led by scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Germany, has reported that a gene in the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa shows bistable expression.

About Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

• It is a gram-negative, aerobic, non-spore forming rod shaped bacterium.
• It is capable of causing a variety of infections in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised hosts.
• It is commonly found in the environment, particularly in freshwater.
• It can cause a wide array of community-acquired infections like folliculitis, puncture wounds leading to osteomyelitis, pneumonia, otitis externa, and many others.
• It is commonly an opportunistic pathogen and is also an important cause of nosocomial infections like ventilator-associated pneumonia, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and others.
• Most burn victims succumb to secondary P. aeruginosa infections.
• It is a major cause of keratitis, an eye infection, and also infects urinary catheters.

What is a Bistable Expression in Bacteria?

• Two bacterial cells with identical genomes — and even from the same colony — can be quite different from each other.
• One cell might express a particular gene at a high level while the other might express it at a low level or not at all.
• Each bacterium goes on to transmit its expression level to its offspring in a process called epigenetic inheritance.
• Such variations among identical cells and organisms are called bistability.
• Bistability might be a survival strategy that single-celled organisms use to adapt to fluctuating environmental conditions.

Source: TH

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