The bacterium Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an opportunistic nosocomial pathogen that can cause severe infections in immunocompromised patients. A key feature of this bacterium is its ability to form a biofilm on virtually any surface, giving them increased resistance to antimicrobial drugs. To better study biofilms, the use of fluorescently labeled bacterial cells has proven essential.

Scientists from the Leibniz Research Network INFECTIONS have now developed an improved labeling system for S. maltophilia, which does not differ in its properties from an original bacterium and creates the possibility to study the mechanisms of biofilm formation and host-pathogen interactions with living bacteria. The results of the study have now been published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

The newly developed plasmids for fluorescent labeling of S. maltophilia will be made available to the scientific community. They have been deposited at the "Addgene" repository and can be obtained from there: https://www.addgene.org/Uwe_Mamat/.

Publication:

Mamat, U. et al., 2023. Improved mini-Tn7 Delivery Plasmids for Fluorescent Labeling of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.00317- 

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