Mutation of a lipopolysaccharide synthesis gene results in increased biofilm ofStenotrophomonas maltophilia on plastic and glass surfaces

• Published in: Annals of microbiology Vol. 58; no. 1; pp. 35 - 40
• Main Authors: Brooke, Joanna S., Vo, Albert, Watts, Patrick, Davis, Nicholas A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01-03-2008
• Subjects: Applied Microbiology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Ecological and Environmental Microbiology; Life Sciences; Medical Microbiology; Microbial Ecology; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Microbiology; Mycology; lipopolysaccharide; biofilm; transposon mutagenesis
• ISSN: 1590-4261; 1869-2044
• DOI: 10.1007/BF03179442

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia
is a biofilm-forming opportunistic pathogen that is emerging worldwide and demonstrates increasing rates of antibiotic resistance and significant case fatality/ratios in immunocompromised or debilitated patients. This study tested the hypothesis that mutation of a lipopolysaccharide synthesis gene results in increased biofilm of
S. maltophilia
. Transposon mutagenesis was used to disrupt genes of
S. maltophilia
clinical isolate X26332 and generated the JB12-23 mutant that produced increased biofilm in comparison to the isogenic parental isolate. Southern hybridisation revealed a single transposon insertion in the JB12-23 mutant. Rescue-cloning and DNA sequencing revealed that the transposon had inserted into the
spgM
gene of
S. maltophilia
mutant JB12-23. Biofilm assays revealed that the JB12-23 mutant produced more biofilm on polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene surfaces, and on borosilicate glass in comparison to the parental isolate. Lipopolysaccharide SDS-PAGE showed that the JB12-23 mutant lacked high molecular weight LPS in comparison to the parental isolate.