Genomic Potential vs. Pathogenic Reality: Functional Virulence Variation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Surface-associated motility is most strongly linked to strain-to-strain differences in pathogenicity across 28 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates in a Galleria mellonella infection model.

• Why it matters: Genome sequencing has outpaced the ability to predict virulence from gene content, leaving a gap between conserved virulence repertoires and their functional impact during infection.
• What they did: The study combined comparative genomics, functional phenotyping, and host-pathogen assays across 28 clinically diverse Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates, testing virulence phenotypes and infection outcomes in Galleria mellonella and lung epithelial cells.
• The result: Genotypic classifications based on pilus, flagellar, siderophore, or secretion system traits poorly predicted virulence phenotypes, and inflammatory responses in lung epithelial cells were negatively correlated with ExoS activity.

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