Quorum Quenching with a Diffusible Signal Factor Analog in Stenotrophomonas maltophilia

Dafne Guillén-Navarro; Rosa González-Vázquez; Gloria León-Ávila; Silvia Giono-Cerezo

doi:10.3390/pathogens12121448

Quorum Quenching with a Diffusible Signal Factor Analog in Stenotrophomonas maltophilia

Pathogens. 2023 Dec 14;12(12):1448. doi: 10.3390/pathogens12121448.

Authors

Dafne Guillén-Navarro^{1

2}, Rosa González-Vázquez^{1

3}, Gloria León-Ávila^{2

4}, Silvia Giono-Cerezo^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Departamento de Microbiología, Prolongación de Carpio y Plan de Ayala S/N, Col. Casco de Santo Tomás, Alcaldía Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City 11340, Mexico.
² Posgrado en Ciencias Quimicobiológicas, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Prolongación de Carpio y Plan de Ayala S/N, Col. Casco de Santo Tomás, Alcaldía Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City 11340, Mexico.
³ Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Unidad Médica de Alta Especialidad, Hospital de Especialidades "Dr. Antonio Fraga Mouret", Centro Médico Nacional La Raza. Seris y Zaachila S/N, Col. La Raza, Alcaldía Azcapotzalco, Mexico City 04960, Mexico.
⁴ Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Departamento de Zoología, Prolongación de Carpio y Plan de Ayala S/N, Col. Casco de Santo Tomás, Alcaldía Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City 11340, Mexico.

Abstract

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacillus associated with nosocomial infections in intensive care units, and nowadays, its acquired resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SXT) by sul genes within class 1 integrons is a worldwide health problem. Biofilm and motility are two of the major virulence factors in this bacterium and are auto-induced by the diffusible signal factor (DSF). In recent studies, retinoids have been used to inhibit (Quorum Quenching) these virulence factors and for their antimicrobial effect. The aim was to reduce biofilm formation and motility with retinoic acid (RA) in S. maltophilia SXT-resistant strains. Eleven SXT-resistant strains and two SXT-susceptible strains were tested for biofilm formation/reduction and planktonic/sessile cell viability with RA and SXT-MIC₅₀/RA; motility (twitching, swimming, swarming) was measured with/without RA; and MLST typing was determined. The biofilm formation of the strains was classified as follows: 15.38% (2/13) as low, 61.54% (8/13) as moderate, and 23.08% (3/13) as high. It was significantly reduced with RA and SXT-MIC₅₀/RA (p < 0.05); cell viability was not significantly reduced with RA (p > 0.05), but it was with SXT-MIC₅₀/RA (p < 0.05); and swimming (p < 0.05) and swarming (p < 0.05) decreased significantly. MLST typing showed the first and novel strains of Mexican S. maltophilia registered in PubMLST (ST479-485, ST497, ST23, ST122, ST175, ST212, and ST300). In conclusion, RA reduced biofilm formation and motility without affecting cell viability; furthermore, antimicrobial synergism with SXT-MIC₅₀/RA in different and novel STs of S. maltophilia was observed.

Keywords: MLST; Quorum Quenching; Quorum Sensing; diffusible signal factor; retinoids.

Grants and funding

D.G.-N. received support from the Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías, México and BEIFI from IPN. S.G.-C. received support from the Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías, México and from COFAA and EDI from IPN. This work was supported by the SIP20190120, SIP20201404, and SIP20211106 projects at the Secretaria de Investigación y Posgrado, IPN, México.