Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes chronic lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis (CF) and acute opportunistic infections in people without CF. Forty-two P. aeruginosa strains from a range of clinical and environmental sources were collated into a single reference strain panel to harmonise research on this diverse opportunistic pathogen. To facilitate further harmonized and comparable research on P. aeruginosa, we characterized the panel strains for growth rates, motility, virulence in the Galleria mellonella infection model, pyocyanin and alginate production, mucoid phenotype, LPS pattern, biofilm formation, urease activity, and antimicrobial and phage susceptibilities. Phenotypic diversity across the P. aeruginosa panel was apparent for all phenotypes examined, agreeing with the marked variability seen in this species. However, except for growth rate, the phenotypic diversity among strains from CF versus non-CF sources was comparable. CF strains were less virulent in the G. mellonella model than non-CF strains (P = 0.037). Transmissible CF strains generally lacked O-antigen, produced less pyocyanin and had low virulence in G. mellonella. Furthermore, in the three sets of sequential CF strains, virulence, O-antigen expression and pyocyanin production were higher in the earlier isolate compared to the isolate obtained later in infection. Overall, this full phenotypic characterization of the defined panel of P. aeruginosa strains increases our understanding of the virulence and pathogenesis of P. aeruginosa and may provide a valuable resource for the testing of novel therapies against this problematic pathogen.

Cardiff School of Biosciences Cardiff University Cardiff UK

Centre for Infection and Immunity School of Medicine Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences Queen's University Belfast UK

Centre of Microbial Host Interactions Institute of Technology Tallaght Tallaght Dublin 24 Ireland

Department of Clinical Microbiology Freeman Hospital Newcastle Newcastle upon Tyne UK

Department of Medical Microbiology Motol University Hospital and 2nd Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Department of Microbiology Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce Kielce Poland

IBB Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences Department of Bioengineering Instituto Superior Técnico University of Lisbon Lisbon Portugal

Institute for Infection and Global Health University of Liverpool Liverpool UK

Institute of Cellular Medicine Newcastle University and Bronchiectasis Service Freeman Hospital Newcastle Newcastle upon Tyne UK

Institute of Genetics and Microbiology University of Wroclaw Wroclaw Poland

Institute of Microbiology Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Acad G Bonchev Str Bl 26 Sofia 1113 Bulgaria

Laboratory of Gene Technology KU Leuven Leuven Belgium

Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Microbiology Ghent University Ghent Belgium

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