Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, Plymouth, PL1 3DH, UK. School of Biological Sciences, Plymouth University, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK. Department of Genetics, Institute of Biology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Environ Microbiol Rep. 2010 Feb;2(1):145-50. doi: 10.1111/j.1758-2229.2009.00122.x. Epub 2010 Jan 5.
Corals are inhabited by complex communities of microbes that affect their growth and survival. Several studies suggest that coral disease may be attributed to the success of vibrios in out-competing other bacteria in the mucus and tissues of corals. Vibrios utilize a variety of quorum sensing (QS) signal molecules to regulate processes that could be used to colonize corals during adverse environmental conditions. We therefore screened a range of Vibrios isolated from a variety of healthy and diseased corals, for the production of the QS signal molecules, N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs) and the AI-2 (autoinducer-2) small furanone signal molecule. All 29 strains examined activated the AI-2 biosensor, but only 17 activated an AHL biosensor. Using reverse phase thin-layer chromatography, we showed that the effect of temperature on AHL production varied considerably among the isolates. For the first time, the QS inhibition by Vibrio harveyi is reported. This only occurred at higher temperatures and does not appear to be due to degradation of AHLs. The large diversity of vibrios and the different effects of temperature on signal production may partly explain the complexity of coral-associated community changes in response to environmental factors.
珊瑚体内栖息着复杂的微生物群落，这些微生物会影响珊瑚的生长和存活。有几项研究表明，珊瑚疾病可能归因于弧菌在珊瑚黏液和组织中成功竞争过其他细菌。弧菌利用多种群体感应（QS）信号分子来调节其在不利环境条件下定植珊瑚的过程。因此，我们从各种健康和患病珊瑚中筛选了一系列弧菌，以检测它们产生的 QS 信号分子 N-酰基高丝氨酸内酯（AHLs）和 AI-2（自诱导物-2）呋喃酮信号分子。所有 29 株受试菌株均激活了 AI-2 生物传感器，但只有 17 株激活了 AHL 生物传感器。通过反相薄层层析，我们表明温度对 AHL 产生的影响在分离株之间有很大差异。这是首次报道哈维氏弧菌对 QS 的抑制作用。这种抑制作用仅在较高温度下发生，似乎不是由于 AHLs 的降解所致。弧菌的多样性很大，以及信号产生对温度的不同影响，可能部分解释了珊瑚相关群落变化对环境因素的复杂性。
