Aminoglycoside antibiotics induce bacterial biofilm formation

Abstract

Bacteria commonly form adherent cell aggregates or biofilms in which they become resistant to killing by antibiotics. Now in a surprising development, commonly used aminoglycoside antibiotics at subinhibitory concentrations are shown to induce biofilm formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli. Since most antibiotics are made by bacteria, such defences probably evolved as a result of microbial competition. A candidate antibiotic receptor that acts as a trigger for biofilm formation has been identified. Blocking this receptor could help to overcome antibiotic resistance and improve the efficacy of current therapy. Biofilms are adherent aggregates of bacterial cells that form on biotic and abiotic surfaces, including human tissues. Biofilms resist antibiotic treatment and contribute to bacterial persistence in chronic infections1,2. Hence, the elucidation of the mechanisms by which biofilms are formed may assist in the treatment of chronic infections, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the airways of patients with cystic fibrosis2. Here we show that subinhibitory concentrations of aminoglycoside antibiotics induce biofilm formation in P. aeruginosa and Escherichia coli. In P. aeruginosa, a gene, which we designated aminoglycoside response regulator (arr), was essential for this induction and contributed to biofilm-specific aminoglycoside resistance. The arr gene is predicted to encode an inner-membrane phosphodiesterase whose substrate is cyclic di-guanosine monophosphate (c-di-GMP)—a bacterial second messenger that regulates cell surface adhesiveness3. We found that membranes from arr mutants had diminished c-di-GMP phosphodiesterase activity, and P. aeruginosa cells with a mutation changing a predicted catalytic residue of Arr were defective in their biofilm response to tobramycin. Furthermore, tobramycin-inducible biofilm formation was inhibited by exogenous GTP, which is known to inhibit c-di-GMP phosphodiesterase activity4. Our results demonstrate that biofilm formation can be a specific, defensive reaction to the presence of antibiotics, and indicate that the molecular basis of this response includes alterations in the level of c-di-GMP.