Reconstruction of the metabolic network of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to interrogate virulence factor synthesis

Abstract

Targeting virulence rather than bacterial growth is less likely to select for antibiotic resistance, but many possible targets function in both processes. Here, the authors reconstruct a genome-scale metabolic network ofP. aeruginosastrain PA14 and update that of strain PAO1, which, together with mutant screens, enable them to identify genes uniquely critical for virulence factor production.