Effects of Bacillus in Pectobacterium quorum quenching: A survey of two different acyl-homoserine lactonases

Ahad Yamchi; Maryam Rahimi; Ramin Akbari; Cyrus Ghobadi; Hassan Aryapour

doi:10.1007/s12223-024-01139-2

Effects of Bacillus in Pectobacterium quorum quenching: A survey of two different acyl-homoserine lactonases

Folia Microbiol (Praha). 2024 Feb 2. doi: 10.1007/s12223-024-01139-2. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Ahad Yamchi¹, Maryam Rahimi², Ramin Akbari³, Cyrus Ghobadi⁴, Hassan Aryapour⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Plant Biotechnology, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran. Yamchi@gau.ac.ir.
² Department of Horticulture, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran.
³ Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran.
⁴ Department of Horticulture Sciences, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran.
⁵ Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran.

PMID: 38305961
DOI: 10.1007/s12223-024-01139-2

Abstract

Numerous functions in pathogenic Pectobacterium are regulated by quorum sensing (QS). Two different aiiA genes isolated from Bacillus sp. A24(aiiA_A24) and Bacillus sp. DMS133(aiiA_DMS133) were used. Both genes encode acyl-homoserine lactonase (AiiA), which disrupts QS in Pectobacterium. To investigate the effect of different AiiAs on the inhibition of Pectobacterium carotovorum pathogenicity, two aiiA genes from different Bacillus strains were cloned and the resulting plasmids pME6863 (aiiA_A24) and pME7080 (aiiA_DMS133) were transformed into P. carotovorum EMPCC cells. The effects of different lactonases on virulence features such as enzymatic activity, twitching and swimming motilities, and production of pellicle and biofilm formation were investigated. In EMPCC/pME6863, twitching and swimming motilities, and pellicle production were significantly reduced compared with EMPCC/pME7080. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to measure virulence gene expression in transformed cells compared with expression levels in wild-type EMPCC. The expression of peh and hrpL genes was greatly reduced in EMPCC/pME6863 compared with EMPCC/pME7080. The sequence alignment and molecular dynamic modeling of two different AiiA_A24 and AiiA_DMS133 proteins suggested that the replacement of proline 210 from AiiA_A24 to serine in AiiA_DMS133 caused the reduction of enzyme activity in AiiA_DMS133.

Keywords: Acyl-homoserine lactone; Molecular dynamic modeling; Pectobacterium carotovorum; Quorum sensing; Virulence genes.