Investigating the effects of dual-species biofilms on antifungal drug resistance

Candida albicans and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are two commensal organisms commonly found as a dual-species biofilm within the lungs of individuals suffering with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). Due to the nature of biofilms and their innate antimicrobial resistance, these biofilms are particularly difficult to treat and can often be fatal for infected individuals. It has been shown however, that P. aeruginosa is capable of increasing the sensitivity of C. albicans to the antifungal drug amphotericin B the mechanism by which P. aeruginosa increases the sensitivity of C. albicans to amphotericin B and whether this effect is replicable in other Candida species is investigated. P. aeruginosa increases the sensitivity of C. albicans and Candida dubliniensis to amphotericin B but had negligible impact on the sensitivity of Candida tropicalis or Candida glabrata. This effect was specific to P. aeruginosa, as Escherichia coli did not affect the sensitivity Ben Woolf Investigating the effects of dual-species MSc-Ron antifungal drug resistance 3 of any Candida species to amphotericin B. The differences in susceptibility of the Candida species, appeared to be linked to their ability to either prevent or detoxify bacterial imposed ROS stress.