A mobile quorum-sensing system in Serratia marcescens.
Quorum-sensing systems that have been widely identified in bacteria play important roles in the regulation of bacterial multicellular behavior by which bacteria sense population density to control various biological functions, including virulence. One characteristic of the luxIR quorum-sensing genes is their diverse and discontinuous distribution among proteobacteria. Here we report that the spnIR quorum-sensing system identified in the enterobacterium Serratia marcescens strain SS-1 is carried in a transposon, TnTIR, which has common characteristics of Tn3 family transposons and is mobile between chromosomes and plasmids of different enterobacterial hosts. SpnIR functions in the new host and was shown to negatively regulate the TnTIR transposition frequency. This finding may help reveal the horizontal transfer and evolutionary mechanism of quorum-sensing genes and alter the way that we perceive regulation of bacterial multicellular behavior.
Wei
Jun-Rong
JR
Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences and Medical Biotechnology, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, No.1. Chang-Der Street, Taipei 100, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Tsai
Yu-Huan
YH
Horng
Yu-Tze
YT
Soo
Po-Chi
PC
Hsieh
Shang-Chen
SC
Hsueh
Po-Ren
PR
Horng
Jim-Tong
JT
Williams
Paul
P
Lai
Hsin-Chih
HC
D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology; D010957:Plasmids; D012706:Serratia marcescens / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements