title: Proteus mirabilis interkingdom swarming signals attract blow flies.
abstract: Flies transport specific bacteria with their larvae that provide a wider range of nutrients for those bacteria. Our hypothesis was that this symbiotic interaction may depend on interkingdom signaling. We obtained Proteus mirabilis from the salivary glands of the blow fly Lucilia sericata; this strain swarmed significantly and produced a strong odor that attracts blow flies. To identify the putative interkingdom signals for the bacterium and flies, we reasoned that as swarming is used by this bacterium to cover the food resource and requires bacterial signaling, the same bacterial signals used for swarming may be used to communicate with blow flies. Using transposon mutagenesis, we identified six novel genes for swarming (ureR, fis, hybG, zapB, fadE and PROSTU_03490), then, confirming our hypothesis, we discovered that fly attractants, lactic acid, phenol, NaOH, KOH and ammonia, restore swarming for cells with the swarming mutations. Hence, compounds produced by the bacterium that attract flies also are utilized for swarming. In addition, bacteria with the swarming mutation rfaL attracted fewer blow flies and reduced the number of eggs laid by the flies. Therefore, we have identified several interkingdom signals between P. mirabilis and blow flies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Qun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.forename: Wenqi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Andrew T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Fields
authors.forename: Meaghan L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Pimsler
authors.forename: Aline F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Spindola
authors.forename: Aaron M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Tarone
authors.forename: Tawni L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Crippen
authors.forename: Jeffery K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Tomberlin
authors.forename: Thomas K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Wood
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002633:Chemotaxis; D004175:Diptera / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D016296:Mutagenesis; D010058:Oviposition; D011513:Proteus mirabilis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000382:microbiology; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013559:Symbiosis