Time-course proteomic study of Acinetobacter baumannii after exposure to oxidative stress

Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic nosocomial Gram-negative bacterium responsible for infectious diseases. Due to its rapidly growing multidrug resistance (MDR), there is a need to improve understanding of host-pathogen interactions to identify targets for the development of novel therapeutics. Characterizing bacterial responses to a stress condition representative of a host environment was hypothesized to provide improved understanding of A. baumannii pathogenesis. To this end, an in vitro time-course proteomic study evaluating the impact of oxidative stress on two clinical strains exhibiting different levels of virulence was performed using mass spectrometry. After exposure to hydrogen peroxide, 38 proteins and 181 proteins were observed to have different abundance levels in strain Lac-4 and Lac-5, respectively. The putative localization, pathway and molecular function of these proteins were assessed. Proteins that changed abundance levels were of interest as they indicate potential response to stress and could lead to targets for future therapeutic development.