Social cheating in a Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum-sensing variant.

ABSTRACT: The opportunistic bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa has a layered acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) quorum-sensing (QS) system, which controls production of a variety of extracellular metabolites and enzymes. The LasRI system activates genes including those coding for the extracellular protease elastase and for the second AHL QS system, RhlRI. Growth of P. aeruginosa on casein requires elastase production and LasR-mutant social cheats emerge in populations growing on casein. P. aeruginosa colonizes the lungs of individuals with the genetic disease cystic fibrosis (CF), and LasR mutants can be isolated from the colonized lungs; however, unlike laboratory-generated LasR mutants, many of these CF isolates have functioning RhlR-RhlI systems. We show that one such mutan

SUBMITTER: Chen R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6452681 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature