Systematic Study of Bacterial Phenotypes Caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa Prophage Adaptive Genes

In addition to being the major predator of bacteria, some bacteriophages adapted a symbiotic relationship with their bacterial hosts through the formation of prophages. Unique genes in prophages known as Prophage Adaptive Genes (PrAGs) function to alter host biological processes, and they contribute greatly to bacterial pathogenicity. I aimed to investigate the phenotypic effects of PrAGs on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic human pathogen. Individual PrAGs in P. aeruginosa PA14 or PAO1 strain background were screened for bacterial phenotypes related to virulence and survivability, including phage resistance, motility, production of biofilm and pyocyanin, and virulence in Drosophila melanogaster. I found that 11 out of 17 PrAGs screened modified the host phenotype in some manner. In addition, some of them were observed to affect multiple phenotypes or cause bacterial strain-specific changes, which suggests that PrAGs interact with host components to cause the phenotypes observed.M.Sc