Oral Presentation International Pasteurellaceae Conference 2014

Biofilm formation by virulent and non-virulent strains of Haemophilus parasuis (#7)

Bernardo Bello-Orti 1 , Vincent Deslandes 2 , Yannick D.N. Tremblay 2 , Josee Labrie 2 , Kate J. Howell 3 , Alexander W. Tucker 3 , Duncan J. Maskell 3 , Virginia Aragon 1 , Mario Jacques 2
  1. Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain
  2. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universite de Montreal, St-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada
  3. Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Haemophilus parasuis is a commensal bacterium of the upper respiratory tract of healthy pigs. It is also the etiological agent of Glässer’s disease, a systemic disease characterized by polyarthritis, fibrinous polyserositis and meningitis, which causes high morbidity and mortality in piglets. The aim of this study was to evaluate biofilm formation by well-characterized virulent and non-virulent strains of H. parasuis. We observed that non-virulent strains isolated from the nasal cavities of healthy pigs formed significantly (p < 0.05) more biofilms than virulent strains isolated from lesions of pigs with Glässer’s disease. These differences were observed when biofilms were formed in microtiter plates under static conditions or formed in the presence of shear force in a drip-flow apparatus or a microfluidic system. Confocal laser scanning microscopy using different fluorescent probes on a representative subset of strains indicated that the biofilm matrix contains poly-N-acetylglucosamine, proteins and eDNA. The biofilm matrix was highly sensitive to degradation by proteinase K. Characteristic transcriptional profiles were found during biofilm and planktonic growth of the non-virulent H. parasuis F9 strain, with a significant number of upregulated membrane-related genes in biofilm, and common signatures with previous Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae published works. Our data indicate that non-virulent strains of H. parasuis have the ability to form robust biofilms in contrast to virulent, systemic strains. Biofilm formation might therefore allow the non-virulent strains to colonize and persist in the upper respiratory tract of pigs. Conversely, the planktonic state of the virulent strains might allow them to disseminate within the host.