Cyanide Produced by Human Isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Contributes to Lethality in Drosophila melanogaster

Some Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains are cyanogenic, and cyanide may contribute to the bacterium's virulence. Using human isolates of P. aeruginosa, we have shown that Drosophila melanogaster suspended above cyanogenic strains become motionless and develop bradycardia and that flies injected wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of infectious diseases 2008-02, Vol.197 (3), p.457-464
Main Authors: Broderick, Kate E., Chan, Adriano, Balasubramanian, Maheswari, Feala, Jake, Reed, Sharon L., Panda, Markandeswar, Sharma, Vijay S., Pilz, Renate B., Bigby, Timothy D., Boss, Gerry R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adenosine Triphosphate - metabolism
Adenosine Triphosphate - pharmacology
Animals
Bacteria
Bacteriology
Biological and medical sciences
Cyanides
Cyanides - isolation & purification
Cyanides - toxicity
Drosophila
Drosophila melanogaster
Drosophila melanogaster - classification
Drosophila melanogaster - drug effects
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Heart rate
Heart Rate - drug effects
Humans
Microbiology
Miscellaneous
Nitrates
Nitrates - pharmacology
Nitrites
Nitrites - pharmacology
Pseudomonas
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Pseudomonas aeruginosa - isolation & purification
Pseudomonas aeruginosa - physiology
Thiocyanates - isolation & purification
Thiocyanates - metabolism
Thiocyanates - pharmacology
Ungulates
Virulence
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Summary:Some Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains are cyanogenic, and cyanide may contribute to the bacterium's virulence. Using human isolates of P. aeruginosa, we have shown that Drosophila melanogaster suspended above cyanogenic strains become motionless and develop bradycardia and that flies injected with cyanogenic bacterial strains die morerapidly than those injected with noncyanogenic strains. Flies exposed to cyanogenic strains had high cyanide and low adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentrations in body extracts, and treatment with a cyanide antidote equalized survival of flies injected with cyanogenic and noncyanogenic strains. P. aeruginosa PAO1 strain with a mutation in the hydrogen cyanide synthase gene cluster was much less toxic to flies than the parental cyanogenic strain or 2 knock-in strains. Transgenic flies overexpressing rhodanese, which detoxifies cyanide by converting it to thiocyanate, were resistant to cyanide and the increased virulence of cyanogenic strains. We conclude that D. melanogaster is a good model for studying cyanide produced by P. aeruginosa.
ISSN:0022-1899
1537-6613
DOI:10.1086/525282