Establishing a quantitative definition of quorum sensing provides insight into the information content of the autoinducer signals in Vibrio harveyi and Escherichia coli.
Extracellular autoinducer concentrations in cultures of Vibrio harveyi and Escherichia coli were monitored by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to test whether a quantitative definition of quorum sensing could help decipher the information content of these signals. Although V. harveyi was able to keep the autoinducer-2 to cell number ratio constant, the ratio of signal to cell number for V. harveyi autoinducer-1 and E. coli autoinducer-2 varied as the cultures grew. These data indicate that V. harveyi uses autoinducer-2 for quorum sensing, while the other molecules may be used to transmit different information or are influenced by metabolic noise.
Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, 618 Buehler Hall, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-1600, USA.
Jessica R
JR
Gooding
Amanda L
AL
May
Kathryn R
KR
Hilliard
Shawn R
SR
Campagna
D015107:4-Butyrolactone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006714:Homoserine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D007783:Lactones; D053038:Quorum Sensing / Q000235:genetics*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics; D014733:Vibrio / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
D007783:Lactones; C091088:N-octanoylhomoserine lactone; D006714:Homoserine; C030654:N-(3-oxohexanoyl)-3-aminodihydro-2(3H)-furanone; D015107:4-Butyrolactone