lux genes and the applications of bacterial bioluminescence

Stewart, Gordon S. A. B.; Williams, Paul

doi:10.1099/00221287-138-7-1289

Cited by 193 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…AI-2 is a furanosyl borate diester that has been proposed to play a role in interspecies communication (2). In addition to bioluminescence (35,40), these three parallel quorum sensing systems regulate type III secretion (17), siderophore and polysaccharide production (24), and metalloprotease production (32). Inhibition of the HAI-1 pathway by the phenethylamide metabolites is consistent with a strong decrease in V. harveyi bioluminescence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Secondary Metabolites Produced by the Marine Bacterium Halobacillus salinus That Inhibit Quorum Sensing-Controlled Phenotypes in Gram-Negative Bacteria

Teasdale

Liu

Wallace

et al. 2009

Appl Environ Microbiol

168

114

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Certain bacteria use cell-to-cell chemical communication to coordinate community-wide phenotypic expression, including swarming motility, antibiotic biosynthesis, and biofilm production. Here we present a marine gram-positive bacterium that secretes secondary metabolites capable of quenching quorum sensing-controlled behaviors in several gram-negative reporter strains. Isolate C42, a Halobacillus salinus strain obtained from a sea grass sample, inhibits bioluminescence production by Vibrio harveyi in cocultivation experiments. With the use of bioassay-guided fractionation, two phenethylamide metabolites were identified as the active agents. The compounds additionally inhibit quorum sensing-regulated violacein biosynthesis by Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 and green fluorescent protein production by Escherichia coli JB525. Bacterial growth was unaffected at concentrations below 200 g/ml. Evidence is presented that these nontoxic metabolites may act as antagonists of bacterial quorum sensing by competing with N-acyl homoserine lactones for receptor binding.Taxonomically diverse marine bacteria have proven to be a rich resource for the discovery of structurally unique and bioactive secondary metabolites (5). Given the intense microbial competition for resources such as space and nutrients, it is probable that many excreted metabolites help mediate microbe-microbe interactions. Various antibiotics have been implicated as chemical defenses for marine bacteria, thus suggesting a role for the biosynthesis of toxic metabolites. For example, a pelagic Alteromonas species produces the antibiotic 2-n-pentyl-4-quinolinol, capable of influencing bacterial community structure on particles (25), and production of the antibiotic andrimid by a marine Vibrio species prevents colonization of surfaces by the particle specialist Vibrio cholerae (26).Though not yet widely studied, the secretion of nontoxic molecules could also play important roles in antagonistic marine microbial interactions. Quorum sensing pathways of competing bacteria are potential targets for such nontoxic chemical defenses. Bacterial communication is facilitated by the production and subsequent recognition of small signaling molecules (autoinducers) and can regulate important phenotypes, including bioluminescence, biofilm formation, swarming motility, antibiotic biosynthesis, and virulence factor production (3, 7, 15). Gram-negative bacteria commonly use N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHL) as signaling molecules, which bind their cognate receptor proteins to activate gene expression (10). These autoinducers share a conserved L-homoserine lactone moiety, and the length and sites of oxidation on the acyl chain dictate the species specificity (37). In contrast, gram-positive bacteria generally accomplish quorum sensing using posttranslationally modified peptides as autoinducers. For example, Staphylococcus aureus uses cyclic oligopeptides to regulate virulence factor production (11).Here we report the production of nontoxic secondary metabolites by a marine gram-pos...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Secondary Metabolites Produced by the Marine Bacterium Halobacillus salinus That Inhibit Quorum Sensing-Controlled Phenotypes in Gram-Negative Bacteria

Teasdale

Liu

Wallace

et al. 2009

Appl Environ Microbiol

168

114

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“…The presence of other immunoreactive E. coli and L. lactis proteins is probably due to the polyclonal DnaK antibody used. Work is currently in progress to study regulation of the L. lactis dnaK promoter under different environmental conditions by chromosomal integration of bacterial luciferase reporter genes (Stewart & Williams, 1992) into the L . lactis dnaK operon.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cloning and sequence analysis of the dnaK gene region of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis

Eaton

Shearman

Gasson

1993

Journal of General Microbiology

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A 5.4 kb Hind111 fragment of Lactococcus lactis subsp. l a d s was identified using a homologous dnaK probe generated by PCR and cloned in Eschevichia coli. Upstream sequences were generated by inverse PCR. The two cloned fragments partially overlapped, and sequencing of 5915 bp revealed the presence of four open reading frames in the order orfl-gvpE-dnaK-ovf4. ovfl encodes a 39 kDa protein of unknown function which shows considerable sequence homology with the Orf39 and Orfa proteins of Bacillus subtilis and Clostridium acetobutylicum, respectively. The downstream ORFs showed high homology to the gvpE and dnaK genes of other prokaryotes. The DnaK protein has a characteristic 24-amino-acid deletion exhibited by all the known DnaK proteins of Gram-positive species. In many bacteria the dnaK and dnaJ genes are found as part of the same operon. The L. lactis dnaK operon is unusual in that the dnaK gene is followed by a putative transcription terminator and a fourth large ORF which shares no homology with the dnaJ genes of other bacteria but has a small degree of homology with various membrane proteins. Vegetative promoter sequences are found upstream of both ovfl and ovf4. A 12 bp inverted repeat is found upstream of the putative promoter of ovfl and an 8 bp inverted repeat is found between this promoter and the o r -initiation codon. These repeats are thought to be involved in regulation of the heat-shock genes. The DnaK homologue is induced approximately 3-fold on heat shock at 42 "C.

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“…The dried supernatants were resuspended in distilled water to a 50-fold concentrate, filter sterilized, and aseptically added in various amounts immediately prior to the inoculation of 20-ml cultures of B. cepacia in an identical chemically defined medium. Samples from the mid-exponential phase of growth (A 470 , 0.5) were assayed for siderophore (20), protease (28), lipase (10), and autoinducer activities (19,22).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa exoproducts on virulence factor production in Burkholderia cepacia: evidence of interspecies communication

1995

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The effect of concentrated cell-free extracellular material from stationary-phase cultures of Burkholderia cepacia 10661 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 on virulence factor production in B. cepacia was assessed. While increasing concentrations of the B. cepacia exoproduct caused a slight increase in siderophore, lipase, and protease production in the producing organism, a significant increase in productivity was observed for all three virulence factors with the addition of the PAO1 exoproduct. Moreover, the addition of the exoproduct from a strain of P. aeruginosa producing reduced amounts of autoinducer caused only a slightly greater response than that of the control. Both B. cepacia 10661 and P. aeruginosa PAO1, along with two matched clinical isolates of both organisms obtained from a cystic fibrotic patient, were shown to produce variable amounts of three different types of autoinducer. The potential for interspecies signalling in microbial pathogenicity is discussed.Burkholderia cepacia, formerly known as Pseudomonas cepacia, is now recognized as an important opportunistic agent of human disease (6,8). In particular, it has received a great deal of attention owing to its increasing association with fatal pulmonary infections in patients with cystic fibrotic (CF) lung disease (9, 13). Clinically, B. cepacia colonization of CF patients can result in an asymptomatic carriage, a slow and continuous decline in lung function, or third, a rapid deterioration of the lung accompanied by fever, necrotizing pneumonia, and in some cases, bacteremia (6, 9). This third syndrome is not observed with other CF pathogens. Generally, it has been noted that B. cepacia colonizes the lung after infection by other microorganisms (24,25). Indeed, in a recent survey of the population with CF lung disease in Greater Manchester, England, only 3.3% of patients were colonized exclusively with B. cepacia (11). Instead, over 80% of the patients were cocolonized with P. aeruginosa. Whereas P. aeruginosa produces a panoply of virulence factors which play an active role in the organism's pathogenicity (7,26), little is known about the pathophysiology of B. cepacia (5,14). Isolated strains of B. cepacia are variable in their abilities to produce hemolysins, lipase and protease (5), exopolysaccharide (2, 17), and ironchelating siderophores (12, 21) in vitro. Consequently, there has been no direct correlation with any of these virulence factors to the organism's pathogenic status in vivo. However, a novel possibility might be the active coaggregation of B. cepacia and P. aeruginosa in the lungs, whereby one species synergistically enhances the virulence determinants of the other. To this effect, the enhancement of B. cepacia attachment to different surfaces by P. aeruginosa exoproducts has been demonstrated (1, 18).It is now recognized that individual cells within a multicellular system can both generate signals and respond to those produced by the surrounding cells, providing a basis for cells to change in response to prevailing environmental...

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lux genes and the applications of bacterial bioluminescence

Cited by 193 publications

References 47 publications

Secondary Metabolites Produced by the Marine Bacterium Halobacillus salinus That Inhibit Quorum Sensing-Controlled Phenotypes in Gram-Negative Bacteria

Secondary Metabolites Produced by the Marine Bacterium Halobacillus salinus That Inhibit Quorum Sensing-Controlled Phenotypes in Gram-Negative Bacteria

Cloning and sequence analysis of the dnaK gene region of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis

Influence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa exoproducts on virulence factor production in Burkholderia cepacia: evidence of interspecies communication

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