Investigation of N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) molecule production in Gram-negative bacteria isolated from cooling tower water and biofilm samples.

In this study, 99 Gram-negative rod bacteria were isolated from cooling tower water, and biofilm samples were examined for cell-to-cell signaling systems, N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) signal molecule types, and biofilm formation capacity. Four of 39 (10 %) strains isolated from water samples and 14 of 60 (23 %) strains isolated from biofilm samples were found to be producing a variety of AHL signal molecules. It was determined that the AHL signal molecule production ability and the biofilm formation capacity of sessile bacteria is higher than planktonic bacteria, and there was a statistically significant difference between the AHL signal molecule production of these two groups (p < 0.05). In addition, it was found that bacteria belonging to the same species isolated from cooling tower water and biofilm samples produced different types of AHL signal molecules and that there were different types of AHL signal molecules in an AHL extract of bacteria. In the present study, it was observed that different isolates of the same strains did not produce the same AHLs or did not produce AHL molecules, and bacteria known as AHL producers did not produce AHL. These findings suggest that detection of signal molecules in bacteria isolated from cooling towers may contribute to prevention of biofilm formation, elimination of communication among bacteria in water systems, and blockage of quorum-sensing controlled virulence of these bacteria.