# Pseudomonas aeruginosa: cAMP and c-di-GMP set exclusive cell states in a human airway tissue model

- Published: 2026-11-08 18:29 UTC
- Section: Life & Health › Biology & biochemistry
- Tags: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, second messengers, cAMP and c-di-GMP signalling, type IV pili, twitching motility, surface colonisation, FimW, FimX, human airway tissue model
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-2fe9ce6e80f4c92002424b42_pseudomonas_aeruginosa_camp/

**Researchers in Basel and Lausanne found that two second messengers split P. aeruginosa cells into attached and motile subpopulations; both functions were needed for invasion in a tissue model.**

![Pseudomonas aeruginosa: cAMP and c-di-GMP set exclusive cell states in a human airway tissue model](https://realtech.media/media/2026/11/b1d5d9ca0dd7da4f.jpg)
*Joydeep, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0*

A team from the Biozentrum at the University of Basel, together with colleagues from EPFL Lausanne and University Hospital Basel, has described in Nature Communications how two second messengers, cAMP and c-di-GMP, coordinate surface behaviour and virulence in the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Colonisation of host tissue surfaces is a prerequisite for bacterial infection, but it had remained unclear how these two pathways are coordinated during tissue infection. The authors report that cAMP and c-di-GMP establish mutually exclusive signalling states at the single-cell level. [1]

## Two signalling states and type IV pili

According to the authors, the pathways act through type IV pili (T4P) in a pathway-specific way and generate distinct subpopulations of motile and surface-attached cells. [1] Initial surface contact triggers an increase in c-di-GMP. This activates FimW and drives stable attachment through the formation of bipolar T4P. [1]

Over time this state is progressively replaced by cAMP. The messenger inactivates FimW-dependent attachment and induces FimX-mediated T4P polarisation, surface motility and activation of virulence. [1] The transition enforces coexisting subpopulations, in which attached cells are gradually displaced by spreading cells. [1] Thus the same pili serve anchoring or movement, depending on which messenger dominates.

## Tests in a human airway tissue model

The team then used a human airway tissue model. In it, both T4P-mediated adhesion and twitching motility were required for invasion and tissue damage. [1] Based on this, the authors propose that reciprocal cAMP–c-di-GMP signalling coordinates complementary T4P functions and so optimises surface colonisation and infection by P. aeruginosa. [1]

The first authors, Maya Bruderer and Jiangning Li, contributed equally; the correspondence authors are Benoit-Joseph Laventie and Urs Jenal. The data come from a tissue model, not from patients.

## Sources

1. [Nature Communications](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-79432-6)

---

Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-2fe9ce6e80f4c92002424b42_pseudomonas_aeruginosa_camp/