From deep-sea volcanoes to human pathogens: a conserved quorum-sensing signal in Epsilonproteobacteria.

ABSTRACT: Chemosynthetic Epsilonproteobacteria from deep-sea hydrothermal vents colonize substrates exposed to steep thermal and redox gradients. In many bacteria, substrate attachment, biofilm formation, expression of virulence genes and host colonization are partly controlled via a cell density-dependent mechanism involving signal molecules, known as quorum sensing. Within the Epsilonproteobacteria, quorum sensing has been investigated only in human pathogens that use the luxS/autoinducer-2 (AI-2) mechanism to control the expression of some of these functions. In this study we showed that luxS is conserved in Epsilonproteobacteria and that pathogenic and mesophilic members of this class inherited this gene from a thermophilic ancestor. Furthermore, we provide evidence that the luxS gene is express

SUBMITTER: Perez-Rodriguez I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4409165 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature