FIGURE 4.

Effects of phendione-based compounds on P. aeruginosa lasB gene expression and lasB protein production. Bacterial cells were treated with 0.5 × MIC of phendione (16.15 μM), Ag-phendione (7.02 μM), and Cu-phendione (3.88 μM) for 24 h at 37°C. Evaluation of lasB gene expression by RT-PCR (rpoD gene was used as a housekeeping gene) (A). Detection of production/secretion of lasB protein by western blot using an anti-lasB antibody (GAPDH was used as loading control) (B). In (B), the numbers on the right indicate the molecular masses of the reactive proteins. Reactive bands were densitometrically quantified using the ImageJ software and the results were expressed as a correlation between lasB and GAPDH densitometric values (expressed as arbitrary units). The symbols (*P < 0.05, one-way ANOVA, Dunnett’s multiple comparison test) denote the statistically difference among phendione-treated systems and untreated ones.