Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26047954›Full record

ArticleBMC microbiology2015

Identification of genes essential for pellicle formation in Acinetobacter baumannii.

Sarah K Giles, Uwe H Stroeher, Bart A Eijkelkamp, Melissa H Brown

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC microbiology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
53citing papers in PubMed
2.3field-weighted citation impact, top 12% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

53 citing papers in PubMed, 75 citations in OpenAlex.

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  16. Porous Pellicle Formation of a Filamentous Bacterium,Applied and environmental microbiology · 2022
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Sarah K GilesSchool of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, 5001, Adelaide, SA, Australia. sarah.giles@flinders.edu.au.
Uwe H StroeherSchool of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, 5001, Adelaide, SA, Australia. uwe.stroeher@flinders.edu.au.
Bart A EijkelkampSchool of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, 5001, Adelaide, SA, Australia. bart.eijkelkamp@adelaide.edu.au.
Melissa H BrownSchool of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, 5001, Adelaide, SA, Australia. melissa.brown@flinders.edu.au.
Flinders University · AUUniversity of Adelaide · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAcinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen, which has the ability to persist in the clinical environment, causing acute and chronic infections. A possible mechanism contributing to survival of A. baumannii is its ability to form a biofilm-like structure at the air/liquid interface, known as a pellicle. This study aimed to identify and characterise the molecular mechanisms required for pellicle formation in A. baumannii and to assess a broad range of clinical A. baumannii strains for their ability to form these multicellular structures.

resultsRandom transposon mutagenesis was undertaken on a previously identified hyper-motile variant of A. baumannii ATCC 17978 designated 17978hm. In total three genes critical for pellicle formation were identified; cpdA, a phosphodiesterase required for degradation of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), and A1S_0112 and A1S_0115 which are involved in the production of a secondary metabolite. While motility of the A1S_0112::Tn and A1S_0115::Tn mutant strains was abolished, the cpdA::Tn mutant strain displayed a minor alteration in its motility pattern. Determination of cAMP levels in the cpdA::Tn strain revealed a ~24-fold increase in cellular cAMP, confirming the role CpdA plays in catabolising this secondary messenger molecule. Interestingly, transcriptional analysis of the cpdA::Tn strain showed significant down-regulation of the operon harboring the A1S_0112 and A1S_0115 genes, revealing a link between these three genes and pellicle formation. Examination of our collection of 54 clinical A. baumannii strains revealed that eight formed a measurable pellicle; all of these strains were motile.

conclusionsThis study shows that pellicle formation is a rare trait in A. baumannii and that a limited number of genes are essential for the expression of this phenotype. Additionally, an association between pellicle formation and motility was identified. The level of the signalling molecule cAMP was found to be controlled, in part, by the cpdA gene product, in addition to playing a critical role in pellicle formation, cellular hydrophobicity and motility. Furthermore, cAMP was identified as a novel regulator of the operon A1S_0112-0118.

Indexed as

Acinetobacter baumanniiBacterial ProteinsBiofilmsCyclic AMPGene Expression ProfilingGene Expression Regulation, BacterialGenes, EssentialHydrophobic and Hydrophilic InteractionsMutagenesis, InsertionalOperonQuantitative Trait LociBacterial ProteinsCyclic AMP

Identifiers

PMID26047954
PMCPMC4457973
OpenAlexW1584721945

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Registered trials

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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.