| Summary: | <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i> is a common, opportunistic bacterial pathogen among patients with cystic fibrosis, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. During the course of these diseases, <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">l</span>-ornithine, a non-proteinogenic amino acid, becomes more abundant. <i>P. aeruginosa</i> is chemotactic towards other proteinogenic amino acids. Here, we evaluated the chemotaxis response of <i>P. aeruginosa</i> towards <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">l</span>-ornithine. Our results show that <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">l</span>-ornithine serves as a chemoattractant for several strains of <i>P. aeruginosa</i>, including clinical isolates, and that the chemoreceptors involved in <i>P. aeruginosa</i> PAO1 are PctA and PctB. It seems likely that <i>P. aeruginosa</i>’s chemotactic response to <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">l</span>-ornithine might be a common feature and thus could potentially contribute to pathogenesis processes during colonization and infection scenarios.
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