Molecular interaction mechanisms of pathogen biofilms and host immune cells

Bacteria species such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus can commonly be found co-existing along each other in chronic infections as mixedspecies biofilm. Bacteria found within mixed-species biofilms become even more resistant to host immune defences and antimicrobial agents compare...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chan, Xiang Ling
Other Authors: Yang Liang
Format: Final Year Project (FYP)
Language:English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64725
_version_ 1824454849346928640
author Chan, Xiang Ling
author2 Yang Liang
author_facet Yang Liang
Chan, Xiang Ling
author_sort Chan, Xiang Ling
collection NTU
description Bacteria species such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus can commonly be found co-existing along each other in chronic infections as mixedspecies biofilm. Bacteria found within mixed-species biofilms become even more resistant to host immune defences and antimicrobial agents compared to singlespecies biofilms. This study aims to determine whether P. aeruginosa is able to exert protective effects onto S. aureus against macrophage engulfment. This was accomplished by visualising differences in bacteria internalisation within macrophages between P. aeruginosa strains that were unable to form either Type IV pili (ΔpilA), or extracellular polysaccharides which provide structural integrity to biofilms, Pel (ΔpelA) and Psl (ΔpslBCD). The lack of functional Type IV pili did not seem to cause bacteria to be more susceptible to phagocytosis while bacteria lacking either Pel or Psl exopolysaccharides were found to be slightly more vulnerable to being engulfed by macrophages. Structural constituents contributed by P. aeruginosa appeared to have some effect on the overall resistance of the mixedspecies biofilm against host immune functions.
first_indexed 2025-02-19T03:28:51Z
format Final Year Project (FYP)
id ntu-10356/64725
institution Nanyang Technological University
language English
last_indexed 2025-02-19T03:28:51Z
publishDate 2015
record_format dspace
spelling ntu-10356/647252023-02-28T18:00:01Z Molecular interaction mechanisms of pathogen biofilms and host immune cells Chan, Xiang Ling Yang Liang School of Biological Sciences Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Microbiology::Bacteria Bacteria species such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus can commonly be found co-existing along each other in chronic infections as mixedspecies biofilm. Bacteria found within mixed-species biofilms become even more resistant to host immune defences and antimicrobial agents compared to singlespecies biofilms. This study aims to determine whether P. aeruginosa is able to exert protective effects onto S. aureus against macrophage engulfment. This was accomplished by visualising differences in bacteria internalisation within macrophages between P. aeruginosa strains that were unable to form either Type IV pili (ΔpilA), or extracellular polysaccharides which provide structural integrity to biofilms, Pel (ΔpelA) and Psl (ΔpslBCD). The lack of functional Type IV pili did not seem to cause bacteria to be more susceptible to phagocytosis while bacteria lacking either Pel or Psl exopolysaccharides were found to be slightly more vulnerable to being engulfed by macrophages. Structural constituents contributed by P. aeruginosa appeared to have some effect on the overall resistance of the mixedspecies biofilm against host immune functions. Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences 2015-05-29T08:03:13Z 2015-05-29T08:03:13Z 2015 2015 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64725 en Nanyang Technological University 25 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Microbiology::Bacteria
Chan, Xiang Ling
Molecular interaction mechanisms of pathogen biofilms and host immune cells
title Molecular interaction mechanisms of pathogen biofilms and host immune cells
title_full Molecular interaction mechanisms of pathogen biofilms and host immune cells
title_fullStr Molecular interaction mechanisms of pathogen biofilms and host immune cells
title_full_unstemmed Molecular interaction mechanisms of pathogen biofilms and host immune cells
title_short Molecular interaction mechanisms of pathogen biofilms and host immune cells
title_sort molecular interaction mechanisms of pathogen biofilms and host immune cells
topic DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Microbiology::Bacteria
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64725
work_keys_str_mv AT chanxiangling molecularinteractionmechanismsofpathogenbiofilmsandhostimmunecells