Characterization of Ocular Clinical Isolates of <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i> from Non-Contact Lens Related Keratitis Patients from South India
Alpana Dave | Apurwa Samarth | Roshni Karolia | Savitri Sharma | Esther Karunakaran | Lynda Partridge | Sheila MacNeil | Peter N. Monk | Prashant Garg | Sanhita Roy
<i>P. aeruginosa</i> is the most common Gram-negative organism causing bacterial keratitis. <i>Pseudomonas</i> utilizes various virulence mechanisms to adhere and colonize in the host tissue. In the present study, we examined virulence factors associated with thirty-four clinical <i>P. aeruginosa</i> isolates collected from keratitis patients seeking care at L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad. The virulence-associated genes in all the isolates were genotyped and characteristics such as antibiotic susceptibility, biofilm formation, swarming motility, pyoverdine production and cell cytotoxicity were analyzed. All the isolates showed the presence of genes related to biofilm formation, alkaline proteases and elastases; however, there was a difference in the presence of genes related to the type III secretion system (T3SS). A higher prevalence of <i>exoU+</i> genotype was noted in the drug-resistant isolates. All the isolates were capable of forming biofilms and more than 70% of the isolates showed good swarming motility. Pyoverdine production was not associated with the T3SS genotype. In the cytotoxicity assay, the presence of <i>exoS,</i> <i>exoU</i> or both resulted in higher cytotoxicity compared to the absence of both the genes. Overall, our results suggest that the T3SS profile is a good indicator of <i>P. aeruginosa</i> virulence characteristics and the isolates lacking the effector genes may have evolved alternate mechanisms of colonization in the host.
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