title: Evidence for the dynamics of Acyl homoserine lactone and AHL-producing bacteria during subtidal biofilm formation.
abstract: The quorum sensing signals-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) were directly detected in 1-9-day-old subtidal biofilms developed in a coastal fish farm by using AHL reporter strains and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Both methods showed that the AHL molecules and/or AHL-producing bacterial community were dynamic during biofilm development, with dominant AHLs changed from short-chain to long-chain AHLs. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the bacterial 16S rRNA genes derived from subtidal biofilms of different ages was compared to that of the 21 AHL-producing bacteria isolated from the same batch of subtidal biofilms. All terminal restriction fragments (TRFs) generated from AHL-producing bacteria matched with the dominant TRFs derived from the biofilm bacterial community samples. Particularly, the TRFs of all AHL-producing Vibrio spp. matched with the TRFs that were dominant only in 1-day-old biofilm, suggesting that AHL-producing vibrios were one of the pioneer groups during subtidal biofilm formation. We reported here for the first time the dynamics of AHLs and AHL-producing bacteria during the formation of a subtidal biofilm.
authors.affiliation: Coastal Marine Laboratory, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Yi-Li
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Jang-Seu
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Ki
authors.forename: On On
authors.initials: OO
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Pei-Yuan
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Qian
mesh_terms: D054742:Acyl-Butyrolactones / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D054742:Acyl-Butyrolactones; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S