The Arginine Deiminase Pathway Impacts Antibiotic Tolerance during Biofilm-Mediated Streptococcus pyogenes Infections

Abstract

Biofilm-mediated bacterial infections are a major threat to human health because of their recalcitrance to antibiotic treatment. Through the study of Streptococcus pyogenes , a significant human pathogen that is known to form antibiotic-tolerant biofilms, we demonstrated the role that a bacterial pathway known for responding to acid stress plays in biofilm growth and antibiotic tolerance. This not only provides some insight into antibiotic treatment failure in S. pyogenes infections but also, given the widespread nature of this pathway, provides a potentially broad target for antibiofilm therapies. This discovery has the potential to impact the treatment of many different types of recalcitrant biofilm infections.