Freshwater-borne bacteria isolated from a Malaysian rainforest waterfall exhibiting quorum sensing properties

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 14; no. 6; pp. 10527 - 10537
• Main Authors: Tan, Wen-Si, Yunos, Nina Yusrina Muhamad, Tan, Pui-Wan, Mohamad, Nur Izzati, Adrian, Tan-Guan-Sheng, Yin, Wai-Fong, Chan, Kok-Gan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 13.06.2014; MDPI
• Subjects: Acyl-Butyrolactones - metabolism; aquatic environment; Bacteria; Biological Assay - instrumentation; Biosensors; Chromobacterium violaceum; Chromobacterium violaceum CV026; Communication; Detection; E coli; Enterobacter - classification; Enterobacter - isolation & purification; Enterobacter - physiology; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli [pSB401]; Fresh Water - microbiology; Gene expression; Genes; Gram-negative bacteria; Gram-positive bacteria; Lactones; Malaysia; N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs); Physiology; quorum sensing; Quorum Sensing - physiology; Rain forests; Rainforest; Rainforests; Screening; Sensors; Species Specificity; Waterfalls; Malaysia; United States > US
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s140610527

One obvious requirement for concerted action by a bacterial population is for an individual to be aware of and respond to the other individuals of the same species in order to form a response in unison. The term "quorum sensing" (QS) was coined to describe bacterial communication that is able to stimulate expression of a series of genes when the concentration of the signaling molecules has reached a threshold level. Here we report the isolation from aquatic environment of a bacterium that was later identified as Enterobacter sp.. Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 and Escherichia coli [pSB401] were used for preliminary screening of N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) production. The Enterobacter sp. isolated was shown to produce two types of AHLs as confirmed by analysis using high resolution tandem mass spectrometry. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first documentation of an Enterobacter sp. that produced both 3-oxo-C6-HSL and 3-oxo-C8-HSL as QS signaling molecules.