Understanding the role of CsrA in Acinetobacter baumannii survival and infection

摘要 鲍氏不动杆菌是一种机会致病菌，可引起严重感染 由于多药耐药性，其非常难以治疗。这些感染中的大多数 发生在住院的危重病人中，并通过医院环境传播， 对这种病原体的主要担忧。我们开发了一种筛选方法来鉴定支持 A的生存。鲍曼不动杆菌在干燥的表面上，因为这种能力可能有助于A.鲍曼氏 传播.我们鉴定的一个基因编码调节蛋白CsrA。该调节器是 对于控制其他细菌物种的代谢和毒力很重要， 研究CsrA在A.鲍曼不动杆菌，我们发现， 与宿主相关的生长这为发现新的基因提供了很好的机会， 参与A.鲍曼不动杆菌的毒力和传播， CsrA在该生物体中的调节功能。本提案的目标是：1）确定 通过研究CsrA在控制宿主相关生长中的作用， A.鲍曼不动杆菌代谢;和2）鉴定CsrA的直接调节靶点， 了解它如何影响A。鲍曼不动杆菌的生长和环境生存。长期 这项研究的目的是确定潜在的目标，发展新的 治疗A.鲍曼不动杆菌感染，并更好地了解其机制 A.鲍曼不动医院环境的目标是发展 新的干预措施来遏制它在医院的传播。

Abstract Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen that causes serious infections which are very difficult to treat due to multidrug resistance. The majority of these infections occur in hospitalized, critically ill individuals, and spread through the hospital environment is a major concern for this pathogen. We developed a screen to identify genes that support the survival of A. baumannii on dry surfaces, since this ability likely facilitates A. baumannii’s spread. One of the genes we identified encodes the regulatory protein CsrA. This regulator is important for controlling metabolism and virulence in other bacterial species, and as we began to study the function of CsrA in A. baumannii, we found that it also appeared to be critical for host-associated growth. This has provided a great opportunity to discover novel genes and determinants involved in A. baumannii virulence and spread by further investigating the regulatory function of CsrA in this organism. The goals of this proposal are: 1) To determine the specific functions needed for host-associated growth by examining role of CsrA in controlling A. baumannii metabolism; and 2) To identify direct regulatory targets of CsrA in order to understand how it influences A. baumannii growth and environmental survival. The long-term objectives of this research are to identify potential targets for the development of new treatments for A. baumannii infections, and to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms through which A. baumannii persists in the nosocomial environment with the goal of developing new interventions to curb its spread in hospitals.