Anaerobic microbiota shape the evolution of Pseudomonas aeruginosa nutritional preferences in chronic airway infection
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) lungs, filled with thick and stagnant mucus containing mucins, provide a unique nutritional environment for anaerobic bacterial communities as well as common CF pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These anaerobic communities metabolize mucins within the lung to create a more ideal nutritional source for P. aeruginosa allowing for more growth. To investigate the effects of this nutritional environment, P. aeruginosa were adapted over 8 days to 2 different media replicating the CF lung environment as well as to a general media. Each day, the cultures of each media type were plated onto red congo plates and observed. After 8 days, minimal mucin media containing intact mucins as well as minimal mucin media supernatant (minimal mucin media metabolized by an anaerobic oral community) caused phenotypic changes in P. aeruginosa colony morphology. Further investigation would include genetic sequencing of colony morphology mutants as well as competition assays to determine relative fitness in the appropriate medium.