Accumulation of Pyrimidine Intermediate Orotate Decreases Virulence Factor Production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The impact of orotate accumulation in the medically important bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa was studied by deleting pyrE, the gene encoding orotate phosphoribosyltransferase and responsible for converting orotate into orotate monophosphate within the de novo pyrimidine synthesis pathway. The pyrE mutant accumulated orotate and exhibited decreased production of hemolysin, casein protease, and elastase. Feeding orotate at a concentration of 51.25 μM to the wild type, PAO1, likewise decreased production of these factors except for hemolysin, which was not affected. A significant increase in the pigments pyocyanin and pyoverdin was also observed. Pyocyanin increase in the pyrE mutant was heightened when the mutant was supplemented with orotate. Although pyoverdin production in the wild-type PAO1 was unaffected by orotate supplementation, a decrease in the mutant’s production was observed when supplemented with orotate. These results indicate a significant reduction in virulence factor production in the pyrE mutant and reduction in some virulence factors in the wild type when supplemented with orotate.