Possible Involvement of Mycoplasma hominis in Inhibiting the Formation of Biofilms by Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC)

Abstract

Here we examined the involvement of Mycoplasma hominis in the formation of biofilms by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) strain CFT073. Initially, we thought that M. hominis does not affect the fitness of UPEC, including the growth and production of signaling molecules, such as autoinducer-2 and indole. We found, however, that the presence of M. hominis significantly decreased the degree of biofilm formation by UPEC CFT073 (approximately a 60% reduction for 10(5) ccu/mL of M. hominis as compared with UPEC alone). We also found that it had a slight effect in inhibiting the attachment and cytotoxicity of UPEC CFT073. These findings are specific to these UPEC strains rather than to enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) strains, found in normal intestinal flora. In addition, we performed whole-transcriptome profiling and quantitative realtime polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis. This indicated that the PhoPQ system and the anti-termination protein (encoded by ybcQ) were involved in the reduction of biofilm formation by M. hominis (corroborated by qRT-PCR). Furthermore, our results indicate that M. hominis raises the degree of transcription of toxin genes, including hha and pasT. Hence, we suggest a possible role of M. hominis in affecting the formation of biofilms by UPEC in the urinary tract.