Virulence factors such as elastase and protease have been proposed to play an

important role in the Selleck BGB324 initial establishment of lung infections (Elsheikh et al., 1987; Smith et al., 2006b) and are also important in acute infections, such as keratitis (Wilcox et al., 2008). These virulence factors have as well been shown to be present at elevated levels during acute exacerbations in patients with CF (Grimwood et al., 1993; Jaffar-Bandjee et al., 1995). In contrast, reduced expression of these virulence factors is associated with chronic CF isolates (Smith et al., 2006a; Tingpej et al., 2007; Bjarnsholt et al., 2010). It was observed here that the STY variants of strain 18A showed a dramatic increase in elastase activity and thus appear to regain hallmarks of acute infection isolates. This suggests that the expression of such virulence factors and the switch between acute and chronic infection types may be a reversible process. Moreover, strain 18A variants showed an increase in the production of acylated homoserine lactones, further showing that the loss of such phenotypes

by chronic infection isolates is reversible. The ability of P. aeruginosa to convert back to an acute infection phenotype may also explain the development of acute exacerbations during lung infection in patients with CF (Grimwood et al., 1993; Jaffar-Bandjee et al., 1995). The morphotypic and phenotypic variants studied here were stable, indicating that the morphotypic conversion was linked to a mutation. To better understand the processes driving the development of these variants, the mutation frequencies of Trichostatin A concentration the parental strains were investigated and the 18A parent strain was shown to have a 3.4-fold higher mutation frequency than strain PAO1. The lower mutation frequency observed for PAO1 may reflect differences in long-term selection, based on laboratory cultivation on defined media, compared to the lung environment with constant exposure to the host immune response, antibiotic challenge and invading strains. The mutation frequencies were determined at multiple stages of biofilm development for both strain PLEKHB2 18A and strain PAO1, and it was observed that they fluctuated approximately

10- and 4.5-fold, respectively. The mutation frequencies also correlated with the growth phases of the biofilms (Fig. 5 and data not shown) with a decline in the mutation frequency when the biofilm biomass was increasing. Interestingly, Garcia-Castillo et al. (2011) have reported that biofilm populations of CF isolates showed a lower mutation frequency compared to planktonic cultures. In contrast, Conibear et al. (2009) demonstrated a 100-fold increase in mutation in biofilm cells, specifically within microcolonies, compared to planktonic cells. The biofilm populations studied [(our study) vs. subpopulations (Conibear et al., 2009)] could account for the differing findings. To explore further this generation of diversity, a number of genes that might contribute were subsequently sequenced.