Identification of a Quorum-sensing Signal Molecule in the Facultative Intracellular Pathogen Brucella Melitensis

Overview

Journal Infect Immun

Publisher American Society for Microbiology

Specialty Allergy & Immunology

Date 2002 May 16

PMID 12010991

Citations 34

Authors

Bernard Taminiau

Mavis Daykin

Simon Swift

Maria-Laura Boschiroli

Anne Tibor

Pascal Lestrate

Xavier De Bolle

David OCallaghan

Paul Williams

Jean-Jacques Letesson

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Brucella melitensis is a gram-negative alpha2-proteobacterium responsible for abortion in goats and for Malta fever in humans. This facultative intracellular pathogen invades and survives within both professional and nonprofessional phagocytes. A dichloromethane extract of spent culture supernatant from B. melitensis induces bioluminescence in an Escherichia coli acyl-homoserine lactone (acyl-HSL) biosensor strain based upon the activity of the LasR protein of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. HPLC fractionation of the extract, followed by mass spectrometry, identified the major active molecule as N-dodecanoylhomoserine lactone (C12-HSL). This is the first report of the production of an acyl-HSL by an intracellular pathogen. The addition of synthetic C12-HSL to an early log phase culture of either B. melitensis or Brucella suis 1330 reduces the transcription of the virB operon, which contains virulence genes known to be required for intracellular survival. This mimics events seen during the stationary phase of growth and suggests that quorum sensing may play a role in the control of virulence in Brucella.

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