The Arginine Catabolism-Derived Amino Acid l-ornithine Is a Chemoattractant for Pseudomonas aeruginosa .

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a common, opportunistic bacterial pathogen among patients with cystic fibrosis, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. During the course of these diseases, l-ornithine, a non-proteinogenic amino acid, becomes more abundant. P. aeruginosa is chemotactic towards other proteinogenic amino acids. Here, we evaluated the chemotaxis response of P. aeruginosa towards l-ornithine. Our results show that l-ornithine serves as a chemoattractant for several strains of P. aeruginosa , including clinical isolates, and that the chemoreceptors involved in P. aeruginosa PAO1 are PctA and PctB. It seems likely that P. aeruginosa 's chemotactic response to l-ornithine might be a common feature and thus could potentially contribute to pathogenesis processes during colonization and infection scenarios.