Iron Depletion Enhances Production of Antimicrobials by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a heritable disease characterized by chronic, polymicrobial lung infections. While Staphylococcus aureus is the dominant lung pathogen in young CF patients, Pseudomonas aeruginosa becomes predominant by adulthood. P. aeruginosa produces a variety of antimicrobials that likely contribute to this shift in microbial populations. In particular, secretion of 2-alkyl-4(1H)-quinolones (AQs) contributes to lysis of S. aureus in coculture, providing an iron source to P. aeruginosa both in vitro and in vivo. We previously showed that production of one such AQ, the Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS), is enhanced by iron depletion and that this induction is dependent upon the iron-responsive PrrF small RNAs (sRNAs). Here, we demonstrate that antimicrobial activity against S. aureus during coculture is also enhanced by iron depletion, and we provide evidence that multiple AQs contribute to this activity. Strikingly, a P. aeruginosa ΔprrF mutant, which produces very little PQS in monoculture, was capable of mediating iron-regulated growth suppression of S. aureus. We show that the presence of S. aureus suppresses the ΔprrF1,2 mutant's defect in iron-regulated PQS production, indicating that a PrrF-independent iron regulatory pathway mediates AQ production in coculture. We further demonstrate that iron-regulated antimicrobial production is conserved in multiple P. aeruginosa strains, including clinical isolates from CF patients. These results demonstrate that iron plays a central role in modulating interactions of P. aeruginosa with S. aureus. Moreover, our studies suggest that established iron regulatory pathways of these pathogens are significantly altered during polymicrobial infections.