Optimal Response to Quorum-Sensing Signals Varies in Different Host Environments with Different Pathogen Group Size.

ABSTRACT: The persistence of genetic variation in master regulators of gene expression, such as quorum-sensing systems, is hard to explain. Here, we investigated two alternative hypotheses for the prevalence of polymorphic quorum sensing in Gram-positive bacteria, i.e., the use of different signal/receptor pairs ('pherotypes') to regulate the same functions. First, social interactions between pherotypes or 'facultative cheating' may favor rare variants that exploit the signals of others. Second, different pherotypes may increase fitness in different environments. We evaluated these hypotheses in the invertebrate pathogen Bacillus thuringiensis, using three pherotypes expressed in a common genetic background. Facultative cheating could occur in well-mixed host homogenates provided there was mi

SUBMITTER: Zhou L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7267880 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature