Proteome analysis of intraclonal diversity of two Pseudomonas aeruginosa TB clone isolates

Two strains, Pseudomonas aeruginosa TB10839 and TB121838, which belong to the TB clonal lineage, have been isolated from sputa of cystic fibrosis patients. Despite the fact that the strains are closely related, their pathogenic potential differs dramatically: while strain TB10839 is capable of proliferating in polymorphonuclear granulocytes, strain TB121838 is not. Comparative two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis coupled to matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF)-mass spectrometry was employed to map the extracellular, intracellular, and surface sub-proteomes of TB10839 and TB121838 and to identify differentially expressed proteins. About 4% of all detected protein spots were differentially expressed between both strains including absent or present spots and spots with a more than 2-fold changed intensity. This percentage reflects a relatively high degree of intraclonal variability. Many of the protein spots in TB10839 that were missing or expressed at lower levels in TB121838 were identified as quorum-sensing regulated virulence factors. It might be speculated that the increased expression of these proteins contributes to pathogenic competence of TB10839.