PR000978 (Project)

Description:Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus are the predominant opportunistic lung pathogens persons with CF [2017 CF Foundation Annual Report] and are leading causes of respiratory failure and mortality [Malhotra, et al. Clin Microbiol Rev, 2019]. Currently, sputum culture remains the standard of care for lung infection detection, but sputum production is on the decline due to improvements in CF therapies. To fill this diagnostic gap, we are working toward the development of breath tests for lung infections by characterizing the volatile metabolome (or “volatilome”) of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. In this study, we explored the influence of growth medium on the volatilomes of two strains of P. aeruginosa (PAO1 and PA14) and S. aureus, as well as two other species from the same genera, S. epidermidis and P. chlororaphis. We hypothesized that the volatilomes would be influenced by the growth medium, but that biological differences between these species and strains would dominate the volatilomes and facilitate identification.