Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
2009
Department
Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Abstract
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 μg/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.
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Teasdale, M. E., Liu, J., Wallace, J., Akhlaghi, F., & Rowley, D. C. (2009). Secondary Metabolites Produced by the Marine Bacterium Halobacillus salinus That Inhibit Quorum Sensing-Controlled Phenotypes in Gram-Negative Bacteria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 75(3), 567-572. doi: 10.1128/AEM.00632-08
Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00632-08
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