ArticleThe ISME journal2009
The biofilm life cycle and virulence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa are dependent on a filamentous prophage.
Article in The ISME journal, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 207 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
207 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 374 citations in OpenAlex.
- Principles for Rigorous Design and Application of Synthetic Microbial Communities.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Smaller Genomes and Shorter Prophage Sequences Differentiate Clinical from Environmental Isolates ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Participation of the Transcriptional Regulator Fur in Modulating Biofilm Formation of the Salmonid PathogenInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- A novel cystic fibrosis-mimetic Pseudomonas auxotrophic vaccine is protective in vivo and is associated with IL-17/IgA mucosal Immunity.Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy · 2026Article
- Dental wastewater reveals a hidden reservoir of oral bacteriophage diversity.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Induction of the filamentous prophage, Pf4, is conditionally regulated by PA3572 (Microbiology (Reading, England) · 2026Article
- Chemical prophage induction selectively removes Vibrio from a pelagic Sargassum-derived multispecies biofilm.Environmental microbiome · 2026Article
- A novel stress response pathway mediates biofilm architecture in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Disrupting phage liquid crystalline droplets restores antibiotic susceptibility in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Mechanisms of thermoregulation inJournal of bacteriology · 2026Review
- Phosphorylation of PfiA modulates Pf4 phage production through PfiA/PfiT stoichiometric reconfiguration inScience advances · 2026Article
- The interplay between the marine diazotrophApplied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Phage-Mediated Iron Acquisition bybioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Filamentous bacteriophages: impact on prokaryotic virulence, eukaryotic immunity, and implications for phage therapy.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Co-infection withISME communications · 2026Article
- Temperate bacteriophage induced inBiofilm · 2025Article
- Phage host interactions reveal LPS and OmpA as receptors for two Erwinia amylovora phages.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Prophage regulation ofeLife · 2025Article
- Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
147 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Mature Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms undergo specific developmental events. Using a bacteriophage mutant, generated by deletion of the entire filamentous Pf4 prophage, we show that the phage is essential for several stages of the biofilm life cycle and that it significantly contributes to the virulence of P. aeruginosa in vivo. Here, we show for the first time that biofilms of the Pf4 phage-deficient mutant did not develop hollow centres or undergo cell death, typical of the differentiation process of wild-type (WT) P. aeruginosa PAO1 biofilms. Furthermore, microcolonies of the Pf4 mutant were significantly smaller in size and less stable compared with the WT biofilm. Small colony variants (SCVs) were detectable in the dispersal population of the WT biofilm at the time of dispersal and cell death, whereas no SCVs were detected in the effluent of the Pf4 mutant biofilm. This study shows that at the time when cell death occurs in biofilms of the WT, the Pf4 phage converts into a superinfective form, which correlates with the appearance of variants in the dispersal population. Unexpectedly, mice infected with the Pf4 mutant survived significantly longer than those infected with its isogenic WT strain, showing that Pf4 contributes to the virulence of P. aeruginosa. Hence, a filamentous prophage is a major contributor to the life cycle and adaptive behaviour of P. aeruginosa and offers an explanation for the prevalence of phage in this organism.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.