Interference with AI-2-mediated bacterial cell–cell communication

Bacteria communicate by means of chemical signal molecules called autoinducers. This process, called quorum sensing, allows bacteria to count the members in the community and to alter gene expression synchronously across the population. Quorum-sensing-controlled processes are often crucial for successful bacterial–host relationships—both symbiotic and pathogenic. Most quorum-sensing autoinducers promote intraspecies communication, but one autoinducer, called AI-2, is produced and detected by a wide variety of bacteria and is proposed to allow interspecies communication. Here we show that some species of bacteria can manipulate AI-2 signalling and interfere with other species' ability to assess and respond correctly to changes in cell population density. AI-2 signalling, and the interference with it, could have important ramifications for eukaryotes in the maintenance of normal microflora and in protection from pathogenic bacteria.

[1]  Bonnie L Bassler,et al.  LuxS quorum sensing: more than just a numbers game. , 2003, Current opinion in microbiology.

[2]  B. Bassler,et al.  Lsr‐mediated transport and processing of AI‐2 in Salmonella typhimurium , 2003, Molecular microbiology.

[3]  M. Surette,et al.  Quorum sensing in Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and Vibrio harveyi: a new family of genes responsible for autoinducer production. , 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[4]  Anisia J. Silva,et al.  Transcriptional Regulation of Vibrio cholerae Hemagglutinin/Protease by the Cyclic AMP Receptor Protein and RpoS , 2004, Journal of bacteriology.

[5]  J. Hacker,et al.  Pathogenicity islands and the evolution of microbes. , 2000, Annual review of microbiology.

[6]  Bonnie L. Bassler,et al.  Parallel Quorum Sensing Systems Converge to Regulate Virulence in Vibrio cholerae , 2002, Cell.

[7]  B. Bassler,et al.  Structural identification of a bacterial quorum-sensing signal containing boron , 2002, Nature.

[8]  B. Bassler,et al.  Quorum Sensing Regulates Type III Secretion in Vibrio harveyi and Vibrio parahaemolyticus , 2004, Journal of bacteriology.

[9]  B. Bassler,et al.  Intercellular signalling in Vibrio harveyi: sequence and function of genes regulating expression of luminescence , 1993, Molecular microbiology.

[10]  N. Wingreen,et al.  The Small RNA Chaperone Hfq and Multiple Small RNAs Control Quorum Sensing in Vibrio harveyi and Vibrio cholerae , 2004, Cell.

[11]  B. Bassler,et al.  The LuxS‐dependent autoinducer AI‐2 controls the expression of an ABC transporter that functions in AI‐2 uptake in Salmonella typhimurium , 2001, Molecular microbiology.

[12]  E. Greenberg,et al.  Cross-species induction of luminescence in the quorum-sensing bacterium Vibrio harveyi , 1997, Journal of bacteriology.

[13]  M. Surette,et al.  The LuxS family of bacterial autoinducers: biosynthesis of a novel quorum‐sensing signal molecule , 2001, Molecular microbiology.

[14]  B. Bassler,et al.  Regulation of Uptake and Processing of the Quorum-Sensing Autoinducer AI-2 in Escherichia coli , 2005, Journal of bacteriology.

[15]  T. Silhavy,et al.  cis-acting ompF mutations that result in OmpR-dependent constitutive expression , 1991, Journal of bacteriology.

[16]  B. Bassler,et al.  Multiple signalling systems controlling expression of luminescence in Vibrio harveyi: sequence and function of genes encoding a second sensory pathway , 1994, Molecular microbiology.

[17]  R. Taylor,et al.  Toxin-coregulated pilus, but not mannose-sensitive hemagglutinin, is required for colonization by Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor biotype and O139 strains , 1996, Infection and immunity.

[18]  Shawn R Campagna,et al.  Salmonella typhimurium recognizes a chemically distinct form of the bacterial quorum-sensing signal AI-2. , 2004, Molecular cell.

[19]  F. Blattner,et al.  Analysis of the Escherichia coli genome: DNA sequence of the region from 84.5 to 86.5 minutes. , 1992, Science.