title: Detection of quorum sensing signals in the haloalkaliphilic archaeon Natronococcus occultus.
abstract: Bacteria communicate at high cell density through quorum sensing, however, there are no reports about this mechanism in archaea. The archaeon Natronococcus occultus produces an extracellular protease at the end of growth. Early production of protease activity was observed when a low density culture was incubated with late exponential conditioned medium suggesting the presence of factor(s) inducing this activity. Conditioned medium and ethyl acetate extracts corresponding to the transition from exponential to stationary phase showed a positive signal in Agrobacterium biosensor. We report the detection of potential autoinducer molecules of the acylated homoserine lactone type in the archaeon N. occultus. These molecules may be responsible for the production/activation of extracellular protease.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, CC 1245, 7600 Mar del Plata, Argentina. paggi@mdp.edu.ar
authors.forename: Roberto A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Paggi
authors.forename: Celina B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Martone
authors.forename: Clay
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fuqua
authors.forename: Rosana E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: De Castro
mesh_terms: D003470:Culture Media; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned / Q000494:pharmacology; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000378:metabolism*; D019848:Gene Expression Regulation, Archaeal; D019634:Natronococcus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000254:growth & development*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D012965:Sodium Chloride
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D010450:Endopeptidases