Pseudomonas aeruginosa
From DrugPedia: A Wikipedia for Drug discovery
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
It is a Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped bacterium with unipolar motility, found in soil, water, skin flora, and most man-made environments throughout the world and can cause disease in humans and non-human animals. It thrives not only in normal atmospheres, but also with little oxygen, and has thus colonized many natural and artificial environments.
| Kingdom | Bacteria |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Proteobacteria |
| Class | Gamma Proteobacteria |
| Order | Pseudomonadales |
| Family | Pseudomonadaceae |
| Genus | Pseudomonas |
| Species | P. aeruginosa |
| Binomial | Pseudomonas aeruginosa |
Contents |
[edit] Surface Characteristics
The cell surface of Pseudomonas aeruginosa contains LPS, consists of three regions, namely O-polysaccharide, core oligosaccharide and lipid A. The core region of LPS is divided into the outer core and inner core. The inner core region consists of 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonic acid (KDO), heptose, phosphate, and probably ethanolamine. The outer core region commonly contains D-glucose, L-rhamnose, D-galactosamine, and L-alanine. The O-antigens consist of a trisaccharide repeating unit which consists of two uronic acid derivatives and one N-acetyl fucosamine residue.
LPS plays a key structural role in outer membrane integrity, as well as being an important mediator of host-pathogen interactions.
[edit] Pathogenic Activity
P. aeruginosa typically infects the pulmonary tract, urinary tract, burns, wounds, and also causes other blood infections and most common cause of infections of burn injuries and of the external ear (otitis externa), and is the most frequent colonizer of medical devices (e.g., catheters).
[edit] Virulence
It uses the virulence factor exotoxin A to ADP-ribosylate eukaryotic elongation factor 2 in the host cell, much as the diphtheria toxin does. Without elongation factor 2, eukaryotic cells cannot synthesize proteins and necrose. The release of intracellular contents induces an immunologic response in immunocompetent patients. In addition Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses an exoenzyme, phosphoslipase S, which degrades the plasma membrane of eukaryotic cells, leading to lysis.
