Figure 7

Schematic of aggregated P. aeruginosa virulence activation pathways associated with host systemic surgical stress. A summary of the four virulence pathways depicted in Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 is presented in aggregated form. Note the points of convergence and intersections among the different pathways, particularly in terms of downstream effects, suggesting highly conserved and advantageous functions for the virulence outputs of P. aeruginosa. Also note the putative link between low phosphate sensing and opioid sensing reflected by the association between pho box and MvfR (seen in the box outlined in Red). MvfR is clearly an important control point in the phenotypic switching between non-virulent and virulent states, and represents a target for future investigation.