3-hydroxytridecan-4-one and Cholera

Toxigenic Vibrio cholerae resides in aquatic reservoirs of cholera-endemic areas mostly in a dormant form known as conditionally viable environmental cells (CVEC) in which the bacteria remain embedded in an exopolysaccharide matrix, and fail to grow in routine bacteriological culture. The CVEC can be resuscitated by supplementing culture media with either of two autoinducers CAI-1 and AI-2, which are signal molecules controlling quorum sensing, a regulatory network of bacterial gene expression dependent on cell density. This study investigated possible existence of variant strains that overproduce AIs, sufficient to resuscitate CVEC in environmental waters.. Environmental V. cholerae isolates and Tn insertion mutants of a V. cholerae strain C6706 were screened for production of AIs using bioluminescent reporter strains. Relevant mutations in environmental strains which overproduced AI-2 were characterized by nucleotide sequencing and genetic complementation studies. Effect of AIs produced in culture supernatants of relevant strains on reactivation of CVEC in water was determined by resuscitation assays.. Two of 54 environmental V. cholerae isolates were found to overproduce AI-2. Screening of a Tn-insertion library of V. cholerae strain C6706, identified a mutant which overproduced AI-2, and carried Tn insertion in the cqsS gene. Nucleotide sequencing also revealed mutations inactivating the cqsS gene in environmental isolates which overproduced AI-2, and this property was reversed when complemented with a wild type cqsS gene. Culture of river water samples supplemented with spent medium of these mutants resuscitated dormant V. cholerae cells in water.. V. cholerae strains with inactivated cqsS gene may offer a convenient source of AI-2 in enhanced assays for monitoring bacteriological quality of water. The results also suggest a potential role of naturally occurring cqsS mutants in the environmental biology of V. cholerae. Furthermore, similar phenomenon may have relevance in the ecology of other waterborne bacterial pathogens beyond V. cholerae.

Topics: Biofilms; Cholera; Environmental Microbiology; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; Homoserine; Humans; Ketones; Lactones; Mutation; Quorum Sensing; Vibrio cholerae

Cholera epidemics have long been known to spread through water contaminated with human fecal material containing the toxigenic bacterium Vibrio cholerae. However, detection of V. cholerae in water is complicated by the existence of a dormant state in which the organism remains viable, but resists cultivation on routine bacteriological media. Growth in the mammalian intestine has been reported to trigger "resuscitation" of such dormant cells, and these studies have prompted the search for resuscitation factors. Although some positive reports have emerged from these investigations, the precise molecular signals that activate dormant V. cholerae have remained elusive. Quorum-sensing autoinducers are small molecules that ordinarily regulate bacterial gene expression in response to cell density or interspecies bacterial interactions. We have found that isolation of pathogenic clones of V. cholerae from surface waters in Bangladesh is dramatically improved by using enrichment media containing autoinducers either expressed from cloned synthase genes or prepared by chemical synthesis. These results may contribute to averting future disasters by providing a strategy for early detection of V. cholerae in surface waters that have been contaminated with the stools of cholera patients or asymptomatic infected human carriers.

Topics: Bacterial Proteins; Bangladesh; Carbon-Sulfur Lyases; Cholera; Culture Media; Feces; Homoserine; Humans; Ketones; Kinetics; Lactones; Mutation; Quorum Sensing; Vibrio cholerae; Water Microbiology

Quorum sensing, a bacterial cell-cell communication process, controls biofilm formation and virulence factor production in Vibrio cholerae, a human pathogen that causes the disease cholera. The major V. cholerae autoinducer is (S)-3-hydroxytridecan-4-one (CAI-1). A membrane bound two-component sensor histidine kinase called CqsS detects CAI-1, and the CqsS → LuxU → LuxO phosphorelay cascade transduces the information encoded in CAI-1 into the cell. Because the CAI-1 ligand is known and because the signalling circuit is simple, consisting of only three proteins, this system is ideal for analysing ligand regulation of a sensor histidine kinase. Here we reconstitute the CqsS → LuxU → LuxO phosphorylation cascade in vitro. We find that CAI-1 inhibits the initial auto-phosphorylation of CqsS whereas subsequent phosphotransfer steps and CqsS phosphatase activity are not CAI-1-controlled. CAI-1 binding to CqsS causes a conformational change that renders His194 in CqsS inaccessible to the CqsS catalytic domain. CqsS mutants with altered ligand detection specificities are faithfully controlled by their corresponding modified ligands in vitro. Likewise, pairing of agonists and antagonists allows in vitro assessment of their opposing activities. Our data are consistent with a two-state model for ligand control of histidine kinases.

Topics: Bacterial Proteins; Cholera; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; Histidine Kinase; Humans; Ketones; Ligands; Phosphoproteins; Phosphorylation; Protein Binding; Protein Kinases; Protein Structure, Tertiary; Quorum Sensing; Repressor Proteins; Vibrio cholerae

Quorum sensing is a mechanism of chemical communication among bacteria that enables collective behaviors. In V. cholerae, the etiological agent of the disease cholera, quorum sensing controls group behaviors including virulence factor production and biofilm formation. The major V. cholerae quorum-sensing system consists of the extracellular signal molecule called CAI-1 and its cognate membrane bound receptor called CqsS. Here, the ligand binding activity of CqsS is probed with structural analogues of the natural signal. Enabled by our discovery of a structurally simplified analogue of CAI-1, we prepared and analyzed a focused library. The molecules were designed to probe the effects of conformational and structural changes along the length of the fatty acid tail of CAI-1. Our results, combined with pharmacophore modeling, suggest a molecular basis for signal molecule recognition and receptor fidelity with respect to the fatty acid tail portion of CAI-1. These efforts provide novel probes to enhance discovery of antivirulence agents for the treatment of V. cholerae.

Topics: Bacterial Proteins; Cholera; Fatty Acids; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; Ketones; Models, Molecular; Quorum Sensing; Vibrio cholerae

Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of the disease cholera, uses a cell to cell communication process called quorum sensing to control biofilm formation and virulence factor production. The major V. cholerae quorum-sensing signal CAI-1 has been identified as (S)-3-hydroxytridecan-4-one, and the CqsA protein is required for CAI-1 production. However, the biosynthetic route to CAI-1 remains unclear. Here we report that (S)-adenosylmethionine (SAM) is one of the two biosynthetic substrates for CqsA. CqsA couples SAM and decanoyl-coenzyme A to produce a previously unknown but potent quorum-sensing molecule, 3-aminotridec-2-en-4-one (Ea-CAI-1). The CqsA mechanism is unique; it combines two enzymatic transformations, a β,γ-elimination of SAM and an acyltransferase reaction into a single PLP-dependent catalytic process. Ea-CAI-1 is subsequently converted to CAI-1, presumably through the intermediate tridecane-3,4-dione (DK-CAI-1). We propose that the Ea-CAI-1 to DK-CAI-1 conversion occurs spontaneously, and we identify the enzyme responsible for the subsequent step: conversion of DK-CAI-1 into CAI-1. SAM is the substrate for the synthesis of at least three different classes of quorum-sensing signal molecules, indicating that bacteria have evolved a strategy to leverage an abundant substrate for multiple signaling purposes.

Topics: Acyl Coenzyme A; Bacterial Proteins; Cholera; Cloning, Molecular; Escherichia coli; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; Ketones; Kinetics; Pyridoxal Phosphate; Quorum Sensing; Recombinant Proteins; S-Adenosylmethionine; Substrate Specificity; Transaminases; Vibrio cholerae

Topics: Cell Shape; Cholera; Gram-Positive Bacteria; Humans; Ketones; Molecular Probes; Photochemical Processes; Protein Kinases; Quorum Sensing; Teichoic Acids; Vibrio cholerae