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A case study on chemical defense based on quorum sensing: antibacterial activity of sponge-associated bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. NJ6-3-1 induced by quorum sensing mechanisms

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Abstract

A case study to investigate the relationship between antibacterial activity and quorum sensing mechanisms was carried out on a sponge-associated bacterium with remarkable biological activities: Pseudoalteromonas sp. NJ6-3-1. The dependence of active substance production on cell density was studied under various growth conditions. Bacteria NJ6-3-1 was found to start producing antibacterial compounds only when cell density reached the threshold value of OD630 = 0.4. To simulate the competitive real marine environment, NJ6-3-1 at low cell density (OD630 value below the required threshold value) was co-cultured with the terrestrial bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. Antibacterial activity assays indicated the existence of some signal molecules in the metabolites of S. aureus that could induce NJ6-3-1 to produce antibacterial substances even at low cell density. Three diketopiperazines (DKPs) as metabolites and potential autoinducers of NJ6-3-1 were synthesized and co-cultured with low density NJ6-3-1. The antibacterial activity assay showed that one of these DKPs—cyclo-(l-Phe-l-Val)—was the autoinducer and could indeed induce NJ6-3-1 to produce antibacterial substances under low cell density. Our results thus provide preliminary support to the hypothesis that the antibacterial activity of NJ6-3-1 is controlled by the quorum sensing system in both an intra-species and an inter-species manner.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 20602009;No. 41076108), the Public Welfare Project of Marine Science Research (200805039), and the Science and Technology Developing Programme of Qingdao government (08-1-3-10-JCH).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003, China

    Xiuchun Guo, Wenhui Zhou & Xiaoru Wang

  2. Marine Ecology Center, First Institute Oceanography of State Oceanic Administration (SOA), Qingdao, 266061, China

    Xiuchun Guo, Li Zheng, Wenhui Zhou, Zhisong Cui, Ping Han, Li Tian & Xiaoru Wang

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  1. Xiuchun Guo
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Correspondence to Li Zheng.

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Guo, X., Zheng, L., Zhou, W. et al. A case study on chemical defense based on quorum sensing: antibacterial activity of sponge-associated bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. NJ6-3-1 induced by quorum sensing mechanisms. Ann Microbiol 61, 247–255 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-010-0129-x

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