Temperate phages (prophages) and phage tail-like bacteriocins in the genomes of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from nosocomial environments
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous pathogen responsible for a number of infections, often from nosocomial origin. The unique combination of antibiotic resistance genes and virulence factors has flagged this bacterium as one of the biggest threats to global health. Among the approximately 6.2 mil...
| Autor: | |
|---|---|
| Tipo de recurso: | tesis doctoral |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2026 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) |
| Repositorio: | Docta Complutense |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/132310 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/132310 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | 579.61(043.2) Microbiología (Farmacia) 3201.03 Microbiología Clínica |
| Sumario: | Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous pathogen responsible for a number of infections, often from nosocomial origin. The unique combination of antibiotic resistance genes and virulence factors has flagged this bacterium as one of the biggest threats to global health. Among the approximately 6.2 million base pairs that conform its genome, temperate phages -namely prophages- contribute the most to genomic diversity in P. aeruginosa.In this thesis, the genomes of different P. aeruginosa strains from hospitals in Portugal, The Netherlands, Ukraine, and Spain have been sequenced and analyzed through various bioinformatic approaches. With this information, the presence, abundance, and composition of prophages and phage tail-like bacteriocins (PTLBs) were studied. In Chapter 1, the genomes of 53 P. aeruginosa isolates from Portuguese and Spanish Intensive Care Units were analyzed. A total of 113 prophages were identified within the collection, being 13 of them integral and present in more than one strain simultaneously. All prophages had a length ranging from 20,199 to 63,401 bp and a GC% between 56.2% and 63.6%. The number of open reading frames (ORFs) oscillated between 32 and 88, and in 3/13 prophages, more than 50% of the ORFs had an unknown function. A number of proteins in relation to viral defense and to prophage interference into their host's quorum sensing system and regulatory cascades were found, supporting the idea that prophages have an influence in bacterial pathogenesis and anti-phage defense... |
|---|