Ciprofloxacin binding to GyrA causes global changes in the proteome of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Ciprofloxacin is one of the most widely-used antibiotics, and has proven especially effective at controlling infections associated with the opportunistic human pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In this work, we show that sub-inhibitory concentrations of ciprofloxacin induce discrete changes in the intracellular proteome. Central metabolism and cell envelope-associated functions are particularly affected. In spite of the low magnitude of the intracellular proteomic changes, we found that sub-lethal concentrations of ciprofloxacin had substantial effects on motility and exoprotein secretion. Crucially, the proteomic and phenotypic modulations that we observed were absolutely dependent upon the presence of wild-type GyrA; an isogenic strain of P. aeruginosa carrying a ciprofloxacin-insensitive form of GyrA (a T83→I mutant) did not display ciprofloxacin-dependent changes unless complemented with wild-type gyrA in trans. These results show that the diverse effects of sub-inhibitory ciprofloxacin on the cell are routed through its primary target in the cell, DNA gyrase.