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Interspecies signaling through QscR, a quorum receptor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

  • Published:
Molecules and Cells

Abstract

The QS machinery of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic human pathogen, consists of three acyl-homoserine lactone (acyl-HSL) signaling systems, LasR-I, RhlR-I, and QscR. QscR, known as an orphan receptor and a repressor of other QS systems, operates its own regulon using N-3-oxododecanoyl HSL (3OC12), which is synthesized by LasI, as its signal. In this study, we addressed the role of QscR in interspecies communication. We found that QscR auto-activates its own transcription in the presence of 3OC12. In a single population of P. aeruginosa, where 3OC12 is the sole signal available for QscR, the QscR regulon is activated by 3OC12 produced by the LasI-R system. However, the broad signal specificity of QscR allowed it to respond to a non-P. aeruginosa signal, such as N-decanoyl HSL (C10) and N-3-hydroxydecanoyl HSL (3OHC10), which preferentially activated QscR to LasR. The signal extracts from Pseudomonas fluorescens and Burkholeria vietnamiensis also preferentially activated QscR. These non-P. aeruginosa signals activated QscR more strongly than 3OC12, the authentic P. aeruginosa signal. Since a variety of acyl-HSLs are produced in the multi-species habitat of nature, our study provides a clue for the particular situation that allows QscR to secede from the conventional QS cascade in mixed microbial community.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Pusan National University, Busan, 609-735, Korea

    Changwan Ha, Seong Joon Park, Su-Jin Im, Su-Jin Park & Joon-Hee Lee

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  1. Changwan Ha
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  2. Seong Joon Park
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  3. Su-Jin Im
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  4. Su-Jin Park
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  5. Joon-Hee Lee
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Correspondence to Joon-Hee Lee.

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These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Ha, C., Park, S.J., Im, SJ. et al. Interspecies signaling through QscR, a quorum receptor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa . Mol Cells 33, 53–59 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10059-012-2208-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10059-012-2208-2

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