Acyl-HSL signal decay: intrinsic to bacterial cell-cell communications

Potential microbial functions and quorum sensing systems in partial nitritation and anammox processes

Diverse microbial communities coexist in the partial nitritation-anaerobic ammonium oxidation (PNA) process, in which nitrogen metabolism and information exchange are two important microbial interactions. In the PNA process, the existence of diverse microorganisms including nitrifiers, anammox bacteria, and heterotrophs makes it challenging to achieve a balanced relationship between anaerobic ammonium oxidation bacteria and ammonia oxidizing bacteria. In this study, potential microbial functions in nitrogen conversion and acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs)-based quorum sensing (QS) in PNA processes were examined. Candidatus_Kuenenia and Nitrosomonas were the key functional bacteria responsible for PNA, while Nitrospira was detected as the dominant nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB). Heterotrophs containing nxr might play a similar function to NOB. The AHLs-QS system was an important microbial communication pathway in PNA systems. N-octanoyl-L-homoserine lactone, N-decanoyl homoserine lactone, and N-dodecanoyl homoserine lactone were the main AHLs, which might be synthesized by nitrogen converting microorganisms and heterotrophs. However, only heterotrophs had the potential to sense and degrade AHLs, such as Saccharophagus (sensing) and Leptospira (degradation). These results provide comprehensive information about the possible microbial functions and interactions in the PNA system and clues for system optimization from a microbial perspective. PRACTITIONER POINTS: ●Potential functions of anammox bacteria, nitrifiers, and heterotrophs were revealed. ●Diverse nitrogen conversion and AHLs-quorum sensing related genes were detected. ●Anammox bacteria and AOB played important roles in the AHLs synthesis process. ●Heterotrophs could sense and degrade AHLs during information exchange.

Contextualizing context for synthetic biology--identifying causes of failure of synthetic biological systems

Despite the efforts that bioengineers have exerted in designing and constructing biological processes that function according to a predetermined set of rules, their operation remains fundamentally circumstantial. The contextual situation in which molecules and single-celled or multi-cellular organisms find themselves shapes the way they interact, respond to the environment and process external information. Since the birth of the field, synthetic biologists have had to grapple with contextual issues, particularly when the molecular and genetic devices inexplicably fail to function as designed when tested in vivo. In this review, we set out to identify and classify the sources of the unexpected divergences between design and actual function of synthetic systems and analyze possible methodologies aimed at controlling, if not preventing, unwanted contextual issues.

Vanadium bromoperoxidase from Delisea pulchra: enzyme-catalyzed formation of bromofuranone and attendant disruption of quorum sensing

Vanadium bromoperoxidase was isolated and cloned from the marine red alga Delisea pulchra. This enzyme catalyzes the bromolactonization of 4-pentynoic acid forming 5E-bromo-methylidenetetrahydro-2-furanone, a compound which is shown herein to inhibit quorum sensing in the engineered reporter strain, Agrobacterium tumefaciens NTL4.

Isolation and genomic characterization of the first phage infecting Iodobacteria: ϕPLPE, a myovirus having a novel set of features

The aquatic phage ϕPLPE infects a bacterium of the genus Iodobacter that are common inhabitants of rivers, streams and canals that produce violacein-like pigments. Our characterization of ϕPLPE reveals it to be a small, contractile-tailed phage whose 47.5 kb genome sequence is phylogenetically distant from all previously characterized phages. The genome has a generally modular organization (e.g. replication/recombination, structure/morphogenesis, lysis/lysogeny) and approximately half of its 84 open reading frames have no known homologues. It behaves as a virulent phage under the host growth conditions we have employed and, with the exception of an anti-repressor (ant) homologue, the genome lacks all the genes associated with a lysogenic lifestyle. Thus, either ϕPLPE was once a temperate phage that has lost most of its lysogeny cassette or it is a virulent phage that acquired an ant-like gene presumably for some function other than the control of lysogeny. The ϕPLPE genome has few bacterial gene homologues with the interesting exception of a putative acylhydrolase (acylase). This function has been implicated in bacterial quorum sensing since it degrades homoserine-lactone signalling molecules and can disrupt or modulate quorum signalling from either the emitter or its competitors. ϕPLPE may be an example of a phage co-opting components of the bacterial quorum-sensing apparatus to its own advantage.

Analysis of S-adenosylmethionine and related sulfur metabolites in bacterial isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (BAA-47) by liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization coupled to a hybrid linear quadrupole ion trap and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

A comprehensive and highly selective method for detecting in bacterial supernatants a modified sulfur nucleoside, S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM), and its metabolites, i.e., S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), adenosine (Ado), 5'-deoxy-5'-methylthioadenosine (MTA), adenine (Ade), S-adenosyl-methioninamine (dcSAM), homocysteine (Hcy) and methionine (Met), was developed. The method is based on reversed-phase liquid chromatography with positive electrospray ionization (ESI+) coupled to a hybrid linear quadrupole ion trap (LTQ) and 7-T Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICRMS). A gradient elution was employed with a binary solvent of 0.05 M ammonium formate at pH 4 and acetonitrile. The assay involves a simultaneous cleanup of cell-free bacterial broths by solid-phase extraction and trace enrichment of metabolites with a 50-fold concentration factor by using immobilized phenylboronic and anion-exchange cartridges. While the quantitative determination of SAM was performed using stable-isotope-labeled SAM-d3 as an internal standard, in the case of Met and Ade, Met-13C and Ade-15N2 were employed as isotope-labeled internal standards, respectively. This method enabled the identification of SAM and its metabolites in cell-free culture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa grown in Davis minimal broth (formulation without sulphur organic compounds), with routine sub-ppm mass accuracies (-0.27 +/- 0.68 ppm). The resulting contents of S(C)S(S)-SAM, S(S)-dcSAM, MTA, Ado and Met in the free-cell supernatant of P. aeruginosa was 56.4 +/- 2.1 nM, 32.2 +/- 2.2 nM, 0.91 +/- 0.10 nM, 19.6 +/- 1.2 nM and 1.93 +/- 0.02 microM (mean +/- SD, n = 4 extractions), respectively. We report also the baseline separation (Rs > or = 1.5) of both diastereoisomeric forms of SAM (S(C)S(S) and S(C)R(S)) and dcSAM (S(S) and R(S)), which can be very useful to establish the relationship between the biologically active versus the inactive species, S(C)S(S)/S(C)R(S) and S(S)/R(S) of SAM and dcSAM, respectively. An additional confirmation of SAM-related metabolites was accomplished by a systematic study of their MS/MS spectra.

Mechanistic considerations of halogenating enzymes

In nature, halogenation is a strategy used to increase the biological activity of secondary metabolites, compounds that are often effective as drugs. However, halides are not particularly reactive unless they are activated, typically by oxidation. The pace of discovery of new enzymes for halogenation is increasing, revealing new metalloenzymes, flavoenzymes, S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM)-dependent enzymes and others that catalyse halide oxidation using dioxygen, hydrogen peroxide and hydroperoxides, or that promote nucleophilic halide addition reactions.

Engineering multicellular systems by cell-cell communication

Synthetic biology encompasses the design of new biological parts and systems as well as the modulation of existing biological networks to generate novel functions. In recent years, increasing emphasis has been placed on the engineering of population-level behaviors using cell-cell communication. From the engineering perspective, cell-cell communication serves as a versatile regulatory module that enables coordination among cells in and between populations and facilitates the generation of reliable dynamics. In addition to exploring biological 'design principles' via the construction of increasingly complex dynamics, communication-based synthetic systems can be used as well-defined model systems to study ecological and social interactions such as competition, cooperation, and predation. Here we discuss the dynamic properties of cell-cell communication modules, how they can be engineered for synthetic circuit design, and applications of these systems.

Accurate mass analysis of N-acyl-homoserine-lactones and cognate lactone-opened compounds in bacterial isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 by LC-ESI-LTQ-FTICR-MS

N-acyl-homoserine-lactones (AHSLs) are widely conserved signal molecules present in quorum sensing systems of Gram-negative bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We present here the results obtained with a hybrid linear trap/Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (LTQ-FTICR) mass spectrometer used to investigate the occurrence of AHSLs and cognate N-acyl-homoserines (AHSs) in bacterial isolates of P. aeruginosa (strain PAO1). Two hydrolysed AHSs were found in significant amounts, most likely formed through the lactone opening of N-3-oxo-decanoyl-L-homoserine-lactone (3OC10-HSL) and N-3-oxo-dodecanoyl-L-homoserine-lactone (3OC12-HSL). Structure elucidation of these ring-opened molecules, i.e. N-3-oxo-decanoyl-L-homoserine (3OC10-HS), and N-3-oxo-dodecanoyl-L-homoserine (3OC12-HS), which are not detected by bacterial biosensors, was performed by high-resolution and accurate mass measurements upon liquid chromatography (LC) and confirmed by tandem MS in the LTQ analyser. Assignment of chemical formula, with mass spectra in the form of [M+H]+, was significantly expedited by extracted ion chromatograms (XICs) because the number of potentially plausible formulae for each protonated signalling molecule was considerably reduced a priori by the LC behaviour, the high mass measurement accuracy available in FTICR mass spectra and the isotopic patterns. At least two concentration levels were observed in spent culture supernatants of P. aeruginosa: compounds at a relatively high content (5-15 microM) that is C4-HSL, 3OC10-HS, and 3OC12-HS and those occurring at a lower content (<0.2 microM) that is C6-HSL and C8-HSL. The implications of this work extend to a great variety of Gram-negative bacteria.

Sinorhizobium meliloti, a bacterium lacking the autoinducer-2 (AI-2) synthase, responds to AI-2 supplied by other bacteria

Many bacterial species respond to the quorum-sensing signal autoinducer-2 (AI-2) by regulating different niche-specific genes. Here, we show that Sinorhizobium meliloti, a plant symbiont lacking the gene for the AI-2 synthase, while not capable of producing AI-2 can nonetheless respond to AI-2 produced by other species. We demonstrate that S. meliloti has a periplasmic binding protein that binds AI-2. The crystal structure of this protein (here named SmlsrB) with its ligand reveals that it binds (2R,4S)-2-methyl-2,3,3,4-tetrahydroxytetrahydrofuran (R-THMF), the identical AI-2 isomer recognized by LsrB of Salmonella typhimurium. The gene encoding SmlsrB is in an operon with orthologues of the lsr genes required for AI-2 internalization in enteric bacteria. Accordingly, S. meliloti internalizes exogenous AI-2, and mutants in this operon are defective in AI-2 internalization. S. meliloti does not gain a metabolic benefit from internalizing AI-2, suggesting that AI-2 functions as a signal in S. meliloti. Furthermore, S. meliloti can completely eliminate the AI-2 secreted by Erwinia carotovora, a plant pathogen shown to use AI-2 to regulate virulence. Our findings suggest that S. meliloti is capable of 'eavesdropping' on the AI-2 signalling of other species and interfering with AI-2-regulated behaviours such as virulence.