Overexpressed recombinant quorum quenching lactonase reduces the virulence, motility and biofilm formation of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates

Abstract

The increasing occurrence of resistance among Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates necessitates finding alternatives to antibiotics for controlling the infection of such pathogenic bacteria. In this study, lactonase gene ahl-1 from Bacillus weihenstephanensis isolate-P65 was successfully cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) under the control of T7 promoter for utilizing its quorum quenching activity against three multidrug-resistant (MDR) P. aeruginosa clinical isolates. The biological activity of the overexpressed lactonase enzyme (Ahl-1), tested using a synthetic signal and Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 as a biosensor, displayed good catalytic activity using hexanoyl homoserine lactone (HHL) as a substrate and Chromobacterium violaceum (CV026) as a biosensor (77.2 and 133 nm min-1 for the crude and the purified Ahl-lactonase enzymes, respectively). Upon challenging its ability to inhibit the virulence of three MDR P. aeruginosa clinical isolates, recombinant Ahl-1 successfully prevented the accumulation of acylhomoserine lactone signals resulting in a significant reduction in the investigated virulence determinants; protease (from 40 up to 75.5%), pyocyanin (48-75.9%), and rhamnolipids (52.7-63.4%) (P value < 0.05). Ahl-1 also displayed significant inhibitory activities on the swarming motility and biofilm formation of the three tested MDR P. aeruginosa clinical isolates (P value < 0.05). Consequently, Ahl-1 lactonase enzyme in this study is considered a promising therapeutic agent to inhibit P. aeruginosa pathogenicity with no fear of emergence of resistance.