Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is one of the most frequently isolated multidrug-resistant nosocomial opportunistic pathogens. It contributes to disease progression in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and is frequently isolated from wounds, infected tissues, and catheter surfaces. On these diverse surfaces S. maltophilia lives in single-species or multispecies biofilms. Since very little is known about common processes in biofilms of different S. maltophilia isolates, we analyzed the biofilm profiles of 300 clinical and environmental isolates from Europe of the recently identified main lineages Sgn3, Sgn4, and Sm2 to Sm18. The analysis of the biofilm architecture of 40 clinical isolates revealed the presence of multicellular structures and high phenotypic variability at a strain-specific level. Further, transcriptome analyses of biofilm cells of seven clinical isolates identified a set of 106 shared strongly expressed genes and 33 strain-specifically expressed genes. Surprisingly, the transcriptome profiles of biofilm versus planktonic cells revealed that just 9.43% ± 1.36% of all genes were differentially regulated. This implies that just a small set of shared and commonly regulated genes is involved in the biofilm lifestyle. Strikingly, iron uptake appears to be a key factor involved in this metabolic shift. Further, metabolic analyses implied that S. maltophilia employs a mostly fermentative growth mode under biofilm conditions. The transcriptome data of this study together with the phenotypic and metabolic analyses represent so far the largest data set on S. maltophilia biofilm versus planktonic cells. This study will lay the foundation for the identification of strategies for fighting S. maltophilia biofilms in clinical and industrial settings.

中文翻译：

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七个临床嗜麦芽窄食单胞菌分离株的表型和转录组学分析确定了一小组参与生物膜生活方式的共享和共同调控基因

嗜麦芽窄食单胞菌是最常分离的耐多药医院内机会病原体之一。它有助于囊性纤维化 (CF) 患者的疾病进展，并且经常从伤口、感染组织和导管表面中分离出来。在这些不同的表面上，嗜麦芽窄食单胞菌生活在单一物种或多物种生物膜中。由于对不同嗜麦芽窄食单胞菌生物膜中的常见过程知之甚少分离株，我们分析了最近确定的主要谱系 Sgn3、Sgn4 和 Sm2 到 Sm18 的来自欧洲的 300 种临床和环境分离株的生物膜概况。对 40 个临床分离株的生物膜结构的分析揭示了在菌株特异性水平上存在多细胞结构和高表型变异性。此外，对七个临床分离株的生物膜细胞的转录组分析确定了一组 106 个共享的强表达基因和 33 个菌株特异性表达的基因。令人惊讶的是，生物膜与浮游细胞的转录组谱显示，所有基因中只有 9.43% ± 1.36% 受到差异调节。这意味着生物膜生活方式只涉及一小组共享和共同调控的基因。引人注目的是，铁摄取似乎是参与这种代谢转变的关键因素。此外，代谢分析表明S. maltophilia在生物膜条件下采用主要发酵生长模式。本研究的转录组数据以及表型和代谢分析代表了迄今为止关于嗜麦芽窄食单胞菌生物膜与浮游细胞的最大数据集。这项研究将为确定在临床和工业环境中对抗嗜麦芽窄食单胞菌生物膜的策略奠定基础。