Microarray Analysis of Toxicogenomic Effects of Peracetic Acid on Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infection (HAI) represents a serious threat to public health, both in terms of human casualty and in terms of economic impact. On an annual basis, 2 million individuals require prolonged hospitalization, and an estimated 90 000 patients die due to HAI. Economic damages are reported to exceed $4.5 billion, annually. While many disinfectants, including peracetic acid, have been employed to eradicate infectious bacteria, a lack of understanding their mode of action and the corresponding defense mechanisms hinders successful antimicrobial application. We report here the first transcriptome analysis of the response of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a pathogen infecting those with cystic fibrosis, upon 20 min exposure to a sublethal concentration (1 mM) of peracetic acid. As a result, we identified that 570 out of a total of 5570 P. aeruginosa genes showed statistically significant transcript level changes. Our findings indicate that (i) many genes associated with cellular protective pro...