PI-137:

A Two Component Sensor Affect Ethanol Degradation in Acinetobacter baumannii

Affiliations:
Kuen-Sheng Hsieh 1, Hung-Yu Shu 2, Guang-Huey Lin 3
1 Master Program in Microbiology and Immunology, Tzu-Chi University,
2 Department of Bioscience Technology, Chang Jung Christian University,
3 Microbial Genetics Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Tzu-Chi University
(Because all three affliations of us are too long to put it at the space below, I put it here. Sorry about that and thank you.)

In recent years, Acinetobacter baumannii is increasingly recognized as an important multidrug-resistant opportunistic pathogen, affecting people with compromised immune systems. Previous studies showed that low-level ethanol exposure increases the virulence of A. baumannii. To know more about the influence of ethanol on A. baumannii, six mutants were screened by using ethanol as single carbon source from the mutant library, established by using Tn5(KAN-2) from Dr. Hung-Yu Hsu’s lab. Finally, one possible gene for ethanol metabolism was characterized by arbitrary PCR. It is ABA0186, encoding a two-component sensor. ABA0186 may regulate the expression of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), ABA0722, ABA1385 and ABA1441, was proposed. The results of real-time PCR indicated that three ADHs were regulated positively by the ABA0186. Three clones with the promotor of three ADHs together with gfp were also constructed, which will be tested for the regulatory pattern of these genes in wild type as well as ABA0186 mutant. In the future, complementary strains of ABA0186 mutant will be constructed and be tested with the ability of degrading ethanol. All the three strains, wild-type, ABA0186 mutant and the complement strain will be tested in various environmental stress sensing and biofilm formation as well. On the other hand, ABA0186 expression strain will be constructed and be tested for whether the expression of ABA0186 would be induced by ethanol.

keywords:Acinetobacter baumannii,Two Component Sensor,Ethanol Degradation