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PMID: 17015436 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

The Vibrio harveyi quorum-sensing system uses shared regulatory components to discriminate between multiple autoinducers.

Genes & development ·Vol. 20 ·No. 19 ·2006-10-01 ·Pages 2754-67

Waters CM, Bassler BL

Abstract

The quorum-sensing bacterium Vibrio harveyi produces and responds to three autoinducers (AIs), and this sensory information converges to control the expression of bioluminescence, biofilm formation, type III secretion (TTS), and protease production. The AIs are detected by cognate sensor histidine kinases that all relay phosphate to the shared response regulator LuxO. LuxO indirectly represses the master regulator of quorum sensing, LuxR, through the activation of multiple genes encoding small regulatory RNAs (called qrr genes for Quorum Regulatory RNA). Here we use differential fluorescence induction to identify 50 quorum-sensing-controlled promoters. Some promoters only showed significant responses in the simultaneous presence of all three AIs, while others displayed substantial responses to the individual AIs. A differential response to each AI input state was also observed for qrr and luxR expression and LuxR protein production. Individual cell analyses revealed that, in each case, all the bacteria in the population respond in unison to the various AI inputs. We propose that the V. harveyi quorum-sensing transition is not switch-like but rather operates in a graded manner, and that this signaling arrangement, which uses shared regulatory proteins, nonetheless provides V. harveyi a mechanism to respond uniquely to different AI input states.

MeSH Terms
Bacterial Proteins/genetics,metabolism,physiology Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial/genetics Genes, Regulator/genetics Luminescent Measurements/methods Models, Biological Multigene Family/genetics Phosphotransferases/genetics,metabolism,physiology Promoter Regions, Genetic/genetics Protein Kinases/genetics,metabolism,physiology Repressor Proteins/genetics,metabolism,physiology Signal Transduction/genetics,physiology Trans-Activators/genetics,metabolism,physiology Transcription Factors/genetics,metabolism,physiology Transcription, Genetic/genetics Vibrio/genetics,growth & development
Chemicals
Bacterial Proteins LuxO protein, Vibrio harveyi Repressor Proteins Trans-Activators Transcription Factors LuxR autoinducer binding proteins Phosphotransferases Protein Kinases luxN protein, Vibrio harveyi luxQ protein, Vibrio harveyi
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Waters Christopher M
Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
Bassler Bonnie L
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Article Info
Journal
Genes & development
Abbr.
Genes Dev
ISSN
0890-9369
DOI
10.1101/gad.1466506
Published
2006-10-01
Pages
2754-67
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
8711660
PMCID
PMC1578700
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM065859 · United States
NIAID NIH HHS · F32 AI0586492 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM 065859 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1101/gad.1466506 PMC Full Text View journal details
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