Studies on Molecular Characterizations of the Outer Membrane Proteins, Lipids Profile, and Exopolysaccharides of Antibiotic Resistant Strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Susceptibility of the tested Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain to two different antibiotics, tetracycline (TE) and ciprofloxacin (CIP), was carried out using liquid dilution method. Minimum inhibitory concentrations of TE and CIP were 9.0 and 6.0 mg/100 mL, respectively. Some metabolic changes due to both, the mode of action of TE and CIP on P. aeruginosa and its resistance to high concentrations of antibiotics (sub-MIC) were detected. The total cellular protein contents decreased after antibiotic treatment, while outer membrane protein (OMP) contents were approximately constant for both treated and untreated cells. Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis of the OMPs for untreated and TE and CIP treated cells indicated that the molecular changes were achieved as; lost in, induction and stability of some protein bands as a result of antibiotics treatment. Five bands (with mol. wt. 71.75, 54.8, 31.72, 28.63, and 20.33 KDa) were stable in both treated and untreated tested strains, while two bands (with mol. wt. 194.8 and 118.3 KDa) were induced and the lost of only one band (with mol. wt. 142.5 KDa) after antibiotics treatment. On the other hand, total lipids and phospholipids increased in antibiotic treated cells, while neutral lipids decreased. Also, there was observable stability in the number of fatty acids in untreated and treated cells (11 fatty acids). The unsaturation index was decreased to 56% and 17.6% in both TE and CIP treatments, respectively. The produced amount of EPSs in untreated cultures of P. aeruginosa was relatively higher than in treated cultures with sub-MICs of TE and CIP antibiotics. It was also observed that the amounts of exopolysaccharides (EPSs) increased by increasing the incubation period up to five days of incubation in case of untreated and antibiotic treated cultures.