title: Critical role of quorum sensing-dependent glutamate metabolism in homeostatic osmolality and outer membrane vesiculation in Burkholderia glumae.
abstract: Metabolic homeostasis in cooperative bacteria is achieved by modulating primary metabolism in a quorum sensing (QS)-dependent manner. A perturbed metabolism in QS mutants causes physiological stress in the rice bacterial pathogen Burkholderia glumae. Here, we show that increased bacterial osmolality in B. glumae is caused by unusually high cellular concentrations of glutamate and betaine generated by QS deficiencies. QS negatively controls glutamate uptake and the expression of genes involved in the glutamine synthetase and glutamine oxoglutarate aminotransferase cycles. Thus, cellular glutamate levels were significantly higher in the QS mutants than in the wild type, and they caused hyperosmotic cellular conditions. Under the hypotonic conditions of the periplasm in the QS mutants, outer membrane bulging and vesiculation were observed, although these changes were rescued by knocking out the gltI gene, which encodes a glutamate transporter. Outer membrane modifications were not detected in the wild type. These results suggest that QS-dependent glutamate metabolism is critical for homeostatic osmolality. We suggest that outer membrane bulging and vesiculation might be the outcome of a physiological adaptation to relieve hypotonic osmotic stress in QS mutants. Our findings reveal how QS functions to maintain bacterial osmolality in a cooperative population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yongsung
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Eunhye
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goo
authors.affiliation: Division of Applied Life Science and Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52828, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jinwoo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ingyu
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hwang
mesh_terms: D019117:Burkholderia / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D053038:Quorum Sensing / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018698:Glutamic Acid