Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA.
PLoS One. 2013 May 30;8(5):e64285. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0064285. Print 2013.
The impaired mucociliary clearance in individuals with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) enables opportunistic pathogens to colonize CF lungs. Here we show that Rothia mucilaginosa is a common CF opportunist that was present in 83% of our patient cohort, almost as prevalent as Pseudomonas aeruginosa (89%). Sequencing of lung microbial metagenomes identified unique R. mucilaginosa strains in each patient, presumably due to evolution within the lung. The de novo assembly of a near-complete R. mucilaginosa (CF1E) genome illuminated a number of potential physiological adaptations to the CF lung, including antibiotic resistance, utilization of extracellular lactate, and modification of the type I restriction-modification system. Metabolic characteristics predicted from the metagenomes suggested R. mucilaginosa have adapted to live within the microaerophilic surface of the mucus layer in CF lungs. The results also highlight the remarkable evolutionary and ecological similarities of many CF pathogens; further examination of these similarities has the potential to guide patient care and treatment.
囊性纤维化（CF）患者的黏液纤毛清除功能受损，使机会性病原体能够定植在 CF 肺部。在这里，我们发现粘罗斯菌是一种常见的 CF 机会性病原体，存在于我们患者队列中的 83%，几乎与铜绿假单胞菌（89%）一样普遍。对肺部微生物宏基因组的测序在每个患者中都鉴定出了独特的粘罗斯菌菌株，这可能是由于在肺部内进化所致。对近完整的粘罗斯菌（CF1E）基因组的从头组装揭示了许多潜在的生理适应 CF 肺部的方法，包括抗生素耐药性、利用细胞外乳酸盐以及修饰 I 型限制修饰系统。从宏基因组中预测的代谢特征表明，粘罗斯菌已适应 CF 肺部黏液层的微需氧表面生存。结果还突出了许多 CF 病原体的显著进化和生态相似性；进一步研究这些相似性有可能指导患者护理和治疗。
