Ten Kah Ern, Rahman Sadequr, Tan Hock Siew
School of Science, Monash University Malaysia, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia.
FEBS Lett. 2025 Jan;599(1):120-139. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.15061. Epub 2024 Nov 21.
Acinetobacter baumannii, a top-priority WHO pathogen, causes life-threatening infections in immunocompromised patients, leading to prolonged hospitalisation and high mortality. Here, we used the Galleria mellonella model to investigate community strain C98 (Ab-C98) virulence via transcriptomic analysis. Ab-C98 showed greater killing and faster colonisation in larvae than the clinical reference strain (ATCC BAA1605). Genes in three iron clusters, acinetobactin, baumannoferrin and the Feo system, were significantly up-regulated. Targeted knockout of siderophore genes (basC, bfnD, and the gene encoding isochorismatase) significantly increased the survival of infected larvae by at least 35.16%, identifying these genes as potential targets for developing anti-virulence agents against A. baumannii.
鲍曼不动杆菌是世界卫生组织列为最高优先级的病原体，可在免疫功能低下的患者中引发危及生命的感染，导致住院时间延长和高死亡率。在此，我们利用大蜡螟模型，通过转录组分析研究社区菌株C98（Ab-C98）的毒力。与临床参考菌株（ATCC BAA1605）相比，Ab-C98在幼虫中表现出更强的杀伤力和更快的定殖能力。三个铁簇中的基因，即不动杆菌铁载体、鲍曼铁菌素和Feo系统，均显著上调。对铁载体基因（basC、bfnD和编码异分支酸酶的基因）进行靶向敲除，可使受感染幼虫的存活率显著提高至少35.16%，表明这些基因是开发抗鲍曼不动杆菌抗毒力药物的潜在靶点。
