Relationship of biofilm-forming ability of Pseudomonas aeruginosa with swimming motility, twitching motility and virulence gene distribution

To investigate the relationship of biofilm-forming ability of (PA) with swimming motility, twitching motility and virulence gene distribution. A total of 192 clinical isolates of PA were collected consecutively. Microtiter plate method was used to evaluate the ability to form biofilm. The swimming and twitching motilities were detected by plate method. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect virulence genes. Of the 192 PA clinical isolates, 186 (96.9%) showed biofilm-forming ability. Among them, 36 isolates showed weak biofilm-forming ability, 84 exhibited moderate biofilm-forming ability and 66 showed strong biofilm-forming ability. The diameters of the swimming ring for PA with none biofilm-forming ability, weak biofilm-forming ability, moderate biofilm-forming ability, strong biofilm-forming ability were (9.12±6.76), (18.42±7.51), (19.10±4.77) and respectively. The diameters of the twitching ring for PA in above groups were (8.38±1.50), (17.21±7.42), (18.49±5.62) and respectively. The swimming motility and twitching motility of none biofilm-forming ability group were weaker than biofilm-forming ability groups (all <0.05). Among 192 PA strains, 163 were positive (84.9%), 40 were positive (20.8%), 183 were positive (95.3%), and 189 were positive (98.4%). The positive rate of PA virulence gene , and were different in strains with different biofilm-forming abilities (<0.05). The rate of in the strong biofilm-forming ability group was lower than that in the moderate biofilm-forming ability group (=9.293, <0.01) and the weak biofilm-forming ability group (=9.997, <0.01). The rate of in the strong biofilm-forming ability group was higher than that in the weak biofilm-forming ability group (=10.803, <0.01). Most clinical isolates of PA can form biofilm. Swimming and twitching motilities are related to the formation of biofilm, but not significantly related to strength of biofilm-forming ability. The virulence genes of type Ⅲ secretion system for PA may be related to the biofilm-forming ability.