title: Deinococcus radiodurans can interfere with quorum sensing by producing an AHL-acylase and an AHL-lactonase.
abstract: Bacterial communication via the secretion of small diffusible compounds allows microorganisms to regulate gene expression in a coordinated manner. As many virulence traits are regulated in this fashion, disruption of chemical communication has been proposed as novel antimicrobial therapy. Quorum-quenching enzymes have been a promising discovery in this field as they interfere with the communication of Gram-negative bacteria. AHL-lactonases and AHL-acylases have been described in a variety of bacterial strains; however, usually only one of these two groups of enzymes has been described in a single species. We report here the presence of a member of each group of enzymes in the extremophile bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans. Co-occurrence of both enzymes in a single species increases the chance of inactivating foreign AHL signals under different conditions. We demonstrate that both enzymes are able to degrade the quorum-sensing molecules of various pathogens subsequently affecting virulence gene expression. These studies add the quorum-quenching enzymes of D. radiodurans to the list of potent quorum-quenchers and highlight the idea that quorum quenching could have evolved in some bacteria as a strategy to gain a competitive advantage by altering gene expression in other species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Gudrun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: Pol
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nadal-Jimenez
authors.forename: Robbert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Cool
authors.forename: Wim J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Quax
mesh_terms: D054742:Acyl-Butyrolactones / Q000378:metabolism; D000581:Amidohydrolases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000382:microbiology; D002265:Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D034301:Deinococcus / Q000201:enzymology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000502:physiology; D053038:Quorum Sensing
chemical_list: D054742:Acyl-Butyrolactones; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002265:Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases; C432003:N-acyl homoserine lactonase; D000581:Amidohydrolases
keywords: acyl homoserine lactone; acylase; extremophile; lactonase; quorum sensing