Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
Nat Chem Biol. 2010 Jan;6(1):41-5. doi: 10.1038/nchembio.264. Epub 2009 Nov 22.
It is postulated that in addition to cell density, other factors such as the dimensions and diffusional characteristics of the environment could influence quorum sensing (QS) and induction of genetic reprogramming. Modeling studies predict that QS may operate at the level of a single cell, but, owing to experimental challenges, the potential benefits of QS by individual cells remain virtually unexplored. Here we report a physical system that mimics isolation of a bacterium, such as within an endosome or phagosome during infection, and maintains cell viability under conditions of complete chemical and physical isolation. For Staphylococcus aureus, we show that quorum sensing and genetic reprogramming can occur in a single isolated organism. Quorum sensing allows S. aureus to sense confinement and to activate virulence and metabolic pathways needed for survival. To demonstrate the benefit of confinement-induced quorum sensing to individuals, we showed that quorum-sensing bacteria have significantly greater viability over non-QS bacteria.
据推测,除了细胞密度之外,环境的尺寸和扩散特性等其他因素也可能影响群体感应(QS)和遗传重编程的诱导。建模研究预测 QS 可能在单个细胞的水平上起作用,但是由于实验挑战,单个细胞的 QS 的潜在益处实际上尚未得到探索。在这里,我们报告了一个物理系统,该系统模拟了细菌的隔离,例如在感染期间的内体或吞噬体中,并且在完全化学和物理隔离的条件下保持细胞活力。对于金黄色葡萄球菌,我们表明群体感应和遗传重编程可以在单个孤立的生物体中发生。群体感应使金黄色葡萄球菌能够感知封闭,并激活生存所需的毒力和代谢途径。为了证明隔离诱导的群体感应对个体的益处,我们表明,群体感应细菌的存活能力明显高于非 QS 细菌。