Interaction between hyaluronate and the cell surface of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract Treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells with the non-metabolizable polysaccharide hyaluronate led to a strong increase in extracellular lipase activity. Alteration of the cell surface either by treatment with the chelator EDTA or by selecting for phage-resistant mutants significantly altered the bacterial response to hyaluronate. Binding of ¹⁴C-labeled hyaluronate to the bacteria was shown to depend on polysaccharide concentration and on cell number. Cell-free exolipase interacted with chemically cross-linked hyaluronate. The results suggested an interaction between hyaluronate and the cell surface of P. aeruginosa as a prerequisite for the polysaccharide to be effective.