Advanced transcriptomic analysis reveals the role of efflux pumps and media composition in antibiotic responses of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen and major cause of hospital acquired infections. The pathogenicity and virulence of P. aeruginosa is largely determined by its transcriptional regulatory network (TRN). We used 411 transcription profiles of P. aeruginosa from diverse growth conditions to construct a quantitative TRN by identifying independently modulated sets of genes (called iModulons) and their condition-specific activity levels. The current study focused on the use of iModulons to analyze pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance of P. aeruginosa. Our analysis revealed: 1) 116 iModulons, 81 of which show strong association with known regulators; 2) novel roles of two-component systems in regulating antibiotics efflux pumps; 3) substrate-efflux pump associations; 4) differential iModulon activity in response to beta-lactam antibiotics in bacteriological and physiological media; 5) differential activation of ‘Cell Division’ iModulon resulting from exposure to different beta-lactam antibiotics; and 6) a role of the PprB iModulon in the stress-induced transition from planktonic to biofilm lifestyle. In light of these results, the construction of an iModulon-based TRN provides a transcriptional regulatory basis for key aspects of P. aeruginosa infection, such as antibiotic stress responses and biofilm formation. Taken together, our results offer a novel mechanistic understanding of P. aeruginosa pathogenicity.SignificanceLarge data sets and machine learning are impacting a growing number of areas of research in the life sciences. Once the compendia of bacterial transcriptomes reached a critical size, we could use source signal extraction algorithms to find lists of co-regulated genes (called iModulons) associated with a transcription factor (TF) to them. The gene composition of iModulons and their condition-dependent activity levels constitute a quantitative description of the composition of bacterial transcriptomes. This study shows how this approach can be used to reveal the responses of P. aeruginosa to antibiotics and thus yield a deep regulatory understanding of pathogenicity properties. This study motivates the execution of similar studies for the other ESKAPEEs to yield a broad understanding of the role of TRNs in antibiotic responses to these urgent threat bacterial pathogens.