Caenorhabditis elegans senses bacterial autoinducers.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses virulence factors controlled by quorum sensing (QS) to kill Caenorhabditis elegans. Here we show that C. elegans is attracted to the acylated homoserine lactones (AHSLs) that mediate QS in P. aeruginosa. Our data also indicate that C. elegans can distinguish AHSLs and may use them to mediate aversive or attractive learning.
Beale
Elmus
E
Department of Cell Biology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Texas 79430, USA.
Li
Guigen
G
Tan
Man-Wah
MW
Rumbaugh
Kendra P
KP
D015107:4-Butyrolactone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology*; D002633:Chemotaxis; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014774:Virulence
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C088386:homoserine lactone; D015107:4-Butyrolactone