Inflammation-like environments limit the loss of quorum sensing in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract

Within-host environments are complex and multidimensional, making it challenging to link evolutionary responses of colonizing pathogens to causal selective drivers. Loss of quorum sensing (QS) via mutation of the master regulator, lasR, is a common adaptation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa during chronic infections. Here, we use experimental evolution in host-mimicking media to show that loss of QS is constrained by environmental factors associated with host inflammation. Specifically, environments combining oxidative stress and abundant free amino acids limited loss of QS, whereas QS loss was rapid in the absence of oxidative stress regardless of amino acids. Under oxidative stress, lasR mutations were contingent upon first decoupling regulation of oxidative stress responses from QS via mutations in the promoter region of the primary catalase, katA, or in the oxidative stress regulator, oxyR, enabling maintenance of oxidative stress tolerance. Together, our findings suggest that host inflammatory responses likely delay the loss of QS whilst colonizers undergo stepwise evolution, first adapting to survive lethal stressors before responding to other nutritional selective drivers that favour loss of QS.