ArticleJournal of bacteriology2015
Phase-Variable Control of Multiple Phenotypes in Acinetobacter baumannii Strain AB5075.
Article in Journal of bacteriology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 86 papers.
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Who cites it
86 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Network-level divergence in cyclic di-GMP signalling drives ecological versatility in Acinetobacter baumannii.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Article
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- Benefits and costs of a hypercapsule and the mechanism of its loss in a clinical isolate ofmBio · 2026Article
- Virulence arsenal of Acinetobacter baumannii: mechanisms driving persistence and resistance.Archives of microbiology · 2026Review
- Phenylacetic acid mediatesMicrobiology (Reading, England) · 2026Article
- The GspCD-dependent type II secretion system promotes necrotizing soft tissue infection caused byFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
- IntracellularProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Maximizing bacterial survival: integrating sense-and-respond and bet-hedging mechanisms.Trends in microbiology · 2025Review
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- Antibiotic-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii can be killed by a combination of bacteriophages and complement.Medical microbiology and immunology · 2025Article
- Inter- and intra-bacterial strain diversity remains the "elephant in the (living) room".npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2025Review
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- Mystique, a broad host range Acinetobacter phage, reveals the impact of culturing conditions on phage isolation and infectivity.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Alternative lipid synthesis in response to phosphate limitation promotes antibiotic tolerance in Gram-negative ESKAPE pathogens.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- 100+ years of phase variation: the premier bacterial bet-hedging phenomenon.Microbiology (Reading, England) · 2025Review
- Biofilm and surface-motility profiles under polymyxin B stress in multidrug-resistant KAPE pathogens isolated from Ghanaian hospital ICUs.Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.) · 2025Article
- Alternative lipid synthesis in response to phosphate limitation promotes antibiotic tolerance in Gram-negative ESKAPE pathogens.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Pathogenicity and virulence ofVirulence · 2024Review
26 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
unlabelledAcinetobacter baumannii strain AB5075 produces colonies with two opacity phenotypes, designated opaque and translucent. These phenotypes were unstable and opaque and translucent colony variants were observed to interconvert at high frequency, suggesting that a phase-variable mechanism was responsible. The frequency of phase variation both within colonies and in broth cultures increased in a cell density-dependent manner and was mediated by the accumulation of an extracellular factor. This factor was distinct from the known A. baumannii signaling molecule 3-OH C12-homoserine lactone. Opaque and translucent colony variants exhibited a number of phenotypic differences, including cell morphology, surface motility, biofilm formation, antibiotic resistance, and virulence in a Galleria mellonella model. Additional clinical isolates exhibited a similar phase-variable control of colony opacity, suggesting that this may be a common feature of A. baumannii. IMPORTANCE: A novel phase-variable mechanism has been identified in Acinetobacter baumannii that results in an interconversion between opaque and translucent colony phenotypes. This phase variation also coordinately regulates motility, cell shape, biofilm formation, antibiotic resistance, and virulence. The frequency of phase variation is increased at high cell density via a diffusible extracellular signal. To our knowledge, this report presents the first example of phase variation in A. baumannii and also the first example of quorum sensing-mediated control of phase variation in a bacterium. The findings are important, as this phase-variable mechanism can be identified only via changes in colony opacity using oblique light; therefore, many researchers studying A. baumannii may unknowingly be working with different colony variants.
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