Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a re-emerging, opportunistic human pathogen, encodes a variety of virulence determinants. Pyoverdine, a siderophore produced by this bacterium, is essential for pathogenesis in mammalian infections. This observation is generally attributed to its roles in acquiring iron and/or regulating other virulence factors. Here we report that pyoverdine translocates into the host, where it binds and extracts iron. Pyoverdine-mediated iron extraction damages host mitochondria, disrupting their function and triggering mitochondrial turnover via autophagy. The host detects this damage via a conserved mitochondrial surveillance pathway mediated by the ESRE network. Our findings illuminate the pathogenic mechanisms of pyoverdine and highlight the importance of this bacterial product in host-pathogen interactions.

Bacterial biofilms remain a persistent threat to human healthcare due to their role in the development of antimicrobial resistance. To combat multi-drug resistant pathogens, it is crucial to enhance our understanding of not only the regulation of biofilm formation, but also its contribution to bacterial virulence. Iron acquisition lies at the crux of these two subjects. In this review, we discuss the role of iron acquisition in biofilm formation and how hosts impede this mechanism to defend against pathogens. We also discuss recent findings that suggest that biofilm formation can also have the reciprocal effect, influencing siderophore production and iron sequestration.

The development of therapies that modulate or prevent pathogen virulence may be a key strategy for circumventing antimicrobial resistance. Toward that end, we examined the production of pyoverdine, a key virulence determinant, in ∼70 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from pediatric cystic fibrosis patients. Pyoverdine production was heterogeneous and showed a clear correlation with pathogenicity in Caenorhabditis elegans and an acute murine pneumonia model. Examination showed pyoverdine accumulation in host tissues, including extrapharyngeal tissues of C. elegans and lung tissues of mice, where accumulation correlated with host death. Many of the isolates tested were resistant to multiple antimicrobials, so we assayed the ability of pyoverdine inhibitors to mitigate virulence and rescue pyoverdine-mediated host pathology. Representatives from three different classes of pyoverdine inhibitors (gallium, fluoropyrimidines, and LK11) significantly improved survival. Our findings highlight the utility of targeting virulence factors in general, and pyoverdine in particular, as a promising method to control bacterial pathogenesis as the utility of antimicrobials continues to diminish.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a clinically important pathogen that causes a variety of infections, including urinary, respiratory, and other soft-tissue infections, particularly in hospitalized patients with immune defects, cystic fibrosis, or significant burns. Antimicrobial resistance is a substantial problem in P. aeruginosa treatment due to the inherent insensitivity of the pathogen to a wide variety of antimicrobial drugs and its rapid acquisition of additional resistance mechanisms. One strategy to circumvent this problem is the use of anti-virulent compounds to disrupt pathogenesis without directly compromising bacterial growth. One of the principle regulatory mechanisms for P. aeruginosa’s virulence is the iron-scavenging siderophore pyoverdine, as it governs in-host acquisition of iron, promotes expression of multiple virulence factors, and is directly toxic. Some combination of these activities renders pyoverdine indispensable for pathogenesis in mammalian models. Here we report identification of a panel of novel small molecules that disrupt pyoverdine function. These molecules directly act on pyoverdine, rather than affecting its biosynthesis. The compounds reduce the pathogenic effect of pyoverdine and improve the survival of Caenorhabditis elegans when challenged with P. aeruginosa by disrupting only this single virulence factor. Finally, these compounds can synergize with conventional antimicrobials, forming a more effective treatment. These compounds may help to identify, or be modified to become, viable drug leads in their own right. Finally, they also serve as useful tool compounds to probe pyoverdine activity.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a multidrug-resistant, opportunistic pathogen that utilizes a wide-range of virulence factors to cause acute, life-threatening infections in immunocompromised patients, especially those in intensive care units. It also causes debilitating chronic infections that shorten lives and worsen the quality of life for cystic fibrosis patients. One of the key virulence factors in P. aeruginosa is the siderophore pyoverdine, which provides the pathogen with iron during infection, regulates the production of secreted toxins, and disrupts host iron and mitochondrial homeostasis. These roles have been characterized in model organisms such as Caenorhabditis elegans and mice. However, an intermediary system, using cell culture to investigate the activity of this siderophore has been absent. In this report, we describe such a system, using murine macrophages treated with pyoverdine. We demonstrate that pyoverdine-rich filtrates from P. aeruginosa exhibit substantial cytotoxicity, and that the inhibition of pyoverdine production (genetic or chemical) is sufficient to mitigate virulence. Furthermore, consistent with previous observations made in C. elegans, pyoverdine translocates into cells and disrupts host mitochondrial homeostasis. Most importantly, we observe a strong correlation between pyoverdine production and virulence in P. aeruginosa clinical isolates, confirming pyoverdine’s value as a promising target for therapeutic intervention. This in vitro cell culture model will allow rapid validation of pyoverdine antivirulents in a simple but physiologically relevant manner.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a re-emerging, multidrug-resistant, opportunistic pathogen that threatens the lives of immunocompromised patients, patients with cystic fibrosis, and those in critical care units. One of the most important virulence factors in this pathogen is the siderophore pyoverdine. Pyoverdine serves several critical roles during infection. Due to its extremely high affinity for ferric iron, pyoverdine gives the pathogen a significant advantage over the host in their competition for iron. In addition, pyoverdine can regulate the production of multiple bacterial virulence factors and perturb host mitochondrial homeostasis. Inhibition of pyoverdine biosynthesis was sufficient to decrease P. aeruginosa pathogenicity in multiple host models. To better understand its regulation, we developed a high-throughput genetic screen that uses the innate fluorescence of pyoverdine to identify genes necessary for its biosynthesis. A substantial number of hits showing severe impairment of pyoverdine production were in genes responsible for early attachment and biofilm formation. In addition to genetic disruption of biofilm, both physical and chemical perturbations also resulted in attenuated pyoverdine production. This regulatory relationship between pyoverdine and biofilm is particularly significant in the context of P. aeruginosa multidrug resistance, where the formation of biofilm is a key mechanism contributing to resistance to antimicrobials and the immune system. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the biofilm inhibitor 2-amino-5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole effectively attenuates pyoverdine production and rescues Caenorhabditis elegans from P. aeruginosa-mediated pathogenesis. Our findings suggest that targeting biofilm formation in P. aeruginosa infections may have multiple therapeutic benefits and that employing an unbiased, systems biology-based approach may be useful for understanding the regulation of specific virulence factors and identifying novel anti-virulence therapeutics or new applications for existing therapies for P. aeruginosa infections.