Co-culture confrontation assays of Acinetobacter baumannii vs. other multi-drug resistance organisms or vs. human dermal fibroblasts. Transcriptome

The overall objective of this study is to identify and characterize factors that influence virulence (including antibiotic resistance, and biofilm formation) in multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs). This objective was accomplished through experiments focusing on the regulatory responses of both target and challenger organisms in bacterial-bacterial and bacterial-human cell interactions likely to occur in the wound environment. Deep next-generation cDNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) was used as a tool to dissect the regulatory networks altered during these organismal-level confrontations. Challenges were MDROs versus human microbiome (commensal) organisms, MDROs versus other MDROs and MDROs versus the human host via cell culture. The research outcome may lead to novel treatment of combat wound infections in the future. This project was carried out in collaboration with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Multidrug-resistant Organism Repository and Surveillance Network (WRAIR MRSN), who provided isolates of highest clinical importance collected from the military health care system.