Imipenem and meropenem influence the Las/Rhl quorum-sensing systems in clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The present study was conducted to study the influence of imipenem and meropenem at subinhibitory concentration on the transcriptional response of Las/Rhl quorum-sensing systems in isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In the present study, six representative carbapenem nonsusceptible clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa were obtained. The agar dilution method was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration against imipenem and meropenem. The bacterial isolates were then cultured up to the early log phase in fresh Luria Bertani (LB) broths at 37°C with and without 2 µg mL-1 imipenem and meropenem, respectively. mRNA was then isolated from the bacterial isolates and was immediately reverse-transcribed to cDNA. The relative quantity of the expression of the lasI, lasR, rhlI, and rhlR genes was assessed by quantitative real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) using the ΔΔCt method. The transcriptional response of the lasI and lasR genes was upregulated at subinhibitory concentration of meropenem. In contrast, the transcriptional response of the lasI, lasR, and rhlR genes was downregulated at subinhibitory concentration of imipenem as compared to the expression in untreated isolates. The data obtained in the current study showcased the ability of imipenem and meropenem to influence the response of the quorum-sensing genes at subinhibitory concentration.