Department of Environmental Protection, Estación Experimental del Zaidín, CSIC, Profesor Albareda, 1 Granada, Spain.
Res Microbiol. 2011 Oct;162(8):773-81. doi: 10.1016/j.resmic.2011.06.013. Epub 2011 Jun 26.
The molecule 2-heptyl-3-hydroxy-4-quinolone (referred to as the Pseudomonas quinolone signal, or PQS) is produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa as part of its quorum sensing circuit, and has been shown to influence a variety of processes in this bacterium, including the production of siderophores and secondary metabolites, virulence determinants and biofilm development. In this report we present evidence of the effect of PQS as an interspecies signal with a negative impact on the multicellular behaviour of Pseudomonas putida KT2440. PQS reduces biofilm formation and swarming motility, and interferes with iron uptake by this bacterium. Addition of PQS also causes changes in the transcription of several P. putida genes, indicating a specific response to the signal molecule, which is not produced by strain KT2440. Among the genes with increased expression in response to PQS is PP1563, which forms part of a large prophage cluster (PP1532-PP1584); consistently, phage-mediated lysis of some cells in the population was observed in the presence of PQS. Overall, these data indicate that PQS may be used by P. aeruginosa as a chemical weapon against potential competitors.
分子 2-庚基-3-羟基-4-喹诺酮（简称铜绿假单胞菌群体感应信号或 PQS）是铜绿假单胞菌作为其群体感应回路的一部分产生的，已被证明会影响该细菌的多种过程，包括铁载体和次生代谢物、毒力决定因素和生物膜的产生。在本报告中，我们提供了证据表明 PQS 作为一种种间信号分子，对铜绿假单胞菌 KT2440 的多细胞行为有负面影响。PQS 减少生物膜形成和群集运动，并干扰该细菌的铁摄取。添加 PQS 还会导致几个铜绿假单胞菌基因的转录发生变化，表明对信号分子有特定的反应，而 KT2440 菌株不产生该信号分子。对 PQS 有反应的基因中包括 PP1563，它是一个大型噬菌体簇（PP1532-PP1584）的一部分；一致地，在存在 PQS 的情况下，观察到噬菌体介导的部分细胞裂解。总的来说，这些数据表明 PQS 可能被铜绿假单胞菌用作对抗潜在竞争者的化学武器。
