title: Autoinducer-2 of the fire blight pathogen Erwinia amylovora and other plant-associated bacteria.
abstract: Autoinducers are important for cellular communication of bacteria. The luxS gene has a central role in the synthesis of autoinducer-2 (AI-2). The gene was identified in a shotgun library of Erwinia amylovora and primers designed for PCR amplification from bacterial DNA. Supernatants of several Erwinia amylovora strains were assayed for AI-2 activity with a Vibrio harveyi mutant and were positive. Many other plant-associated bacteria also showed AI-2 activity such as Erwinia pyrifoliae and Erwinia tasmaniensis. The luxS genes of several bacteria were cloned, sequenced, and complemented Escherichia coli strain DH5alpha and a Salmonella typhimurium mutant, both defective in luxS, for synthesis of AI-2. Assays to detect AI-2 activity in culture supernatants of several Pseudomonas syringae pathovars failed, which may indicate the absence of AI-2 or synthesis of another type. Several reporter strains did not detect synthesis of an acyl homoserine lactone (AHL, AI-1) by Erwinia amylovora, but confirmed AHL-synthesis for Erwinia carotovora ssp. atroseptica and Pantoea stewartii.
authors.affiliation: Federal Biological Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry (BBA), Dossenheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Mojtaba
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Geider
mesh_terms: D015107:4-Butyrolactone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D013437:Carbon-Sulfur Lyases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004885:Erwinia / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D044084:Erwinia amylovora / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D006714:Homoserine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D007783:Lactones; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020636:Pantoea / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D044224:Pseudomonas syringae / Q000378:metabolism; D012475:Salmonella / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D007783:Lactones; C091088:N-octanoylhomoserine lactone; C088386:homoserine lactone; D006714:Homoserine; D013437:Carbon-Sulfur Lyases; C117753:LuxS protein, Bacteria; D015107:4-Butyrolactone