INDUCTION AND SELECTION OF FORMALDEHYDE-BASED RESISTANCE IN PSEUDOMONAS-AERUGINOSA

A formaldehyde resistant (R) phenotype of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was isolated from a formaldehyde-sensitive (S) parent by sequential treatment with 1,3,5-tris-(ethyl)hexahydro-s-triazine (ET). The resistance of the (R) strain to treatment with ET was approximately 3-fold higher than the parental (S) strain. Two modes of resistance to ET, and simultaneous resistance to formaldehyde, are demonstrated: (1) transient or induced resistance is expressed during short-term exposure to ET, and this resistance is gradually lost during subsequent growth in the absence of ET, and (2) resistance that results from a stable phenotypic change in the (S) strain following sequential treatment with ET ((R) strain phenotype). The observed activities of three forms of the formaldehyde oxidizing enzyme, formaldehyde, dehydrogenase, are strongly correlated with the relative response of the (S) and (R) strains to treatment with ET. The observed resistance of the (R) strain appears to be due to high levels of an NAD+-linked, glutathione-dependent form of formaldehyde dehydrogenase as well as a dye-linked formaldehyde dehydrogenase. The transient or induced response of the (R) strain involves an increase in activity of the dye-linked formaldehyde dehydrogenase. The induced response of the (S) strain and an ATCC strain of P. aeruginosa, however, is correlated with the two forms of the NAD+-linked enzyme (glutathione-dependent (EC 1.2.1.1) and independent (EC 1.2.1.46)) with no contribution from the dye-linked enzyme.