Quorum sensing activity of Citrobacter amalonaticus L8A, a bacterium isolated from dental plaque

Sci Rep. 2016 Feb 10:6:20702. doi: 10.1038/srep20702.

Abstract

Cell-cell communication is also known as quorum sensing (QS) that happens in the bacterial cells with the aim to regulate their genes expression in response to increased cell density. In this study, a bacterium (L8A) isolated from dental plaque biofilm was identified as Citrobacter amalonaticus by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS). Its N-acylhomoserine-lactone (AHL) production was screened by using two types of AHL biosensors namely Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 and Escherichia coli [pSB401]. Citrobacter amalonaticus strain L8A was identified and confirmed producing numerous types of AHL namely N-butyryl-L-homoserine lactone (C4-HSL), N-hexanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (C6-HSL), N-octanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (C8-HSL) and N-hexadecanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (C16-HSL). We performed the whole genome sequence analysis of this oral isolate where its genome sequence reveals the presence of QS signal synthase gene and our work will pave the ways to study the function of the related QS genes in this bacterium.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • 4-Butyrolactone / analogs & derivatives
  • 4-Butyrolactone / analysis
  • 4-Butyrolactone / metabolism
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics
  • Citrobacter / isolation & purification
  • Citrobacter / metabolism*
  • DNA, Bacterial / chemistry
  • DNA, Bacterial / genetics
  • DNA, Bacterial / metabolism
  • Dental Plaque / microbiology*
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Homoserine / analogs & derivatives
  • Homoserine / analysis
  • Homoserine / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Lactones / analysis
  • Lactones / metabolism
  • Phylogeny
  • Quorum Sensing / physiology*
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • DNA, Bacterial
  • Lactones
  • N-butyrylhomoserine lactone
  • N-hexanoyl-L-homoserine lactone
  • N-octanoylhomoserine lactone
  • homoserine lactone
  • Homoserine
  • 4-Butyrolactone