The intragenus and interspecies quorum-sensing autoinducers exert distinct control over Vibrio cholerae biofilm formation and dispersal.

TitleThe intragenus and interspecies quorum-sensing autoinducers exert distinct control over Vibrio cholerae biofilm formation and dispersal.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2019
AuthorsBridges, AA, Bassler, BL
JournalPLoS Biol
Volume17
Issue11
Paginatione3000429
Date Published2019 Nov
ISSN1545-7885
KeywordsBacterial Proteins, Biofilms, Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial, Homoserine, Ketones, Lactones, Quorum Sensing, Signal Transduction, Vibrio cholerae, Virulence
Abstract

<p>Vibrio cholerae possesses multiple quorum-sensing (QS) systems that control virulence and biofilm formation among other traits. At low cell densities, when QS autoinducers are absent, V. cholerae forms biofilms. At high cell densities, when autoinducers have accumulated, biofilm formation is repressed, and dispersal occurs. Here, we focus on the roles of two well-characterized QS autoinducers that function in parallel. One autoinducer, called cholerae autoinducer-1 (CAI-1), is used to measure Vibrio abundance, and the other autoinducer, called autoinducer-2 (AI-2), is widely produced by different bacterial species and presumed to enable V. cholerae to assess the total bacterial cell density of the vicinal community. The two V. cholerae autoinducers funnel information into a shared signal relay pathway. This feature of the QS system architecture has made it difficult to understand how specific information can be extracted from each autoinducer, how the autoinducers might drive distinct output behaviors, and, in turn, how the bacteria use QS to distinguish kin from nonkin in bacterial communities. We develop a live-cell biofilm formation and dispersal assay that allows examination of the individual and combined roles of the two autoinducers in controlling V. cholerae behavior. We show that the QS system works as a coincidence detector in which both autoinducers must be present simultaneously for repression of biofilm formation to occur. Within that context, the CAI-1 QS pathway is activated when only a few V. cholerae cells are present, whereas the AI-2 pathway is activated only at much higher cell density. The consequence of this asymmetry is that exogenous sources of AI-2, but not CAI-1, contribute to satisfying the coincidence detector to repress biofilm formation and promote dispersal. We propose that V. cholerae uses CAI-1 to verify that some of its kin are present before committing to the high-cell-density QS mode, but it is, in fact, the broadly made autoinducer AI-2 that sets the pace of the V. cholerae QS program. This first report of unique roles for the different V. cholerae autoinducers suggests that detection of kin fosters a distinct outcome from detection of nonkin.</p>

DOI10.1371/journal.pbio.3000429
Alternate JournalPLoS Biol
PubMed ID31710602
PubMed Central IDPMC6872173
Grant ListR37 GM065859 / GM / NIGMS NIH HHS / United States
DRG-2302-17 / HHMI / Howard Hughes Medical Institute / United States