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Art connection

The left part of this illustration shows a single bacterial cell. The cell produces autoinducers, which diffuse away from the cell and cannot bind the intracellular receptor. The right part of this illustration shows many bacterial cells. More autoinducers are present, which bind receptors that in turn bind DNA and regulate the expression of certain genes. Autoinducer gene expression is turned on, resulting in a positive-feedback loop.
Autoinducers are small molecules or proteins produced by bacteria that regulate gene expression.

Which of the following statements about quorum sensing is false?

  1. Autoinducer must bind to receptor to turn on transcription of genes responsible for the production of more autoinducer.
  2. The receptor stays in the bacterial cell, but the autoinducer diffuses out.
  3. Autoinducer can only act on a different cell: it cannot act on the cell in which it is made.
  4. Autoinducer turns on genes that enable the bacteria to form a biofilm.

Some species of bacteria that use quorum sensing form biofilms, complex colonies of bacteria (often containing several species) that exchange chemical signals to coordinate the release of toxins that will attack the host. Bacterial biofilms ( [link] ) can sometimes be found on medical equipment; when biofilms invade implants such as hip or knee replacements or heart pacemakers, they can cause life-threatening infections.

Art connection

Part a: This electron micrograph shows a film of bacteria. Part b: This photo shows a Hawaiian bobtail squid.
Cell-cell communication enables these (a) Staphylococcus aureus bacteria to work together to form a biofilm inside a hospital patient’s catheter, seen here via scanning electron microscopy. S. aureus is the main cause of hospital-acquired infections. (b) Hawaiian bobtail squid have a symbiotic relationship with the bioluminescent bacteria Vibrio fischeri . The luminescence makes it difficult to see the squid from below because it effectively eliminates its shadow. In return for camouflage, the squid provides food for the bacteria. Free-living V. fischeri do not produce luciferase, the enzyme responsible for luminescence, but V. fischeri living in a symbiotic relationship with the squid do. Quorum sensing determines whether the bacteria should produce the luciferase enzyme. (credit a: modifications of work by CDC/Janice Carr; credit b: modifications of work by Cliff1066/Flickr)

What advantage might biofilm production confer on the S. aureus inside the catheter?

Research on the details of quorum sensing has led to advances in growing bacteria for industrial purposes. Recent discoveries suggest that it may be possible to exploit bacterial signaling pathways to control bacterial growth; this process could replace or supplement antibiotics that are no longer effective in certain situations.

Watch geneticist Bonnie Bassler discuss her discovery of quorum sensing in biofilm bacteria in squid.

Evolution connection

Cellular communication in yeasts

The first life on our planet consisted of single-celled prokaryotic organisms that had limited interaction with each other. While some external signaling occurs between different species of single-celled organisms, the majority of signaling within bacteria and yeasts concerns only other members of the same species. The evolution of cellular communication is an absolute necessity for the development of multicellular organisms, and this innovation is thought to have required approximately 2.5 billion years to appear in early life forms.

Yeasts are single-celled eukaryotes, and therefore have a nucleus and organelles characteristic of more complex life forms. Comparisons of the genomes of yeasts, nematode worms, fruit flies, and humans illustrate the evolution of increasingly complex signaling systems that allow for the efficient inner workings that keep humans and other complex life forms functioning correctly.

Kinases are a major component of cellular communication, and studies of these enzymes illustrate the evolutionary connectivity of different species. Yeasts have 130 types of kinases. More complex organisms such as nematode worms and fruit flies have 454 and 239 kinases, respectively. Of the 130 kinase types in yeast, 97 belong to the 55 subfamilies of kinases that are found in other eukaryotic organisms. The only obvious deficiency seen in yeasts is the complete absence of tyrosine kinases. It is hypothesized that phosphorylation of tyrosine residues is needed to control the more sophisticated functions of development, differentiation, and cellular communication used in multicellular organisms.

Because yeasts contain many of the same classes of signaling proteins as humans, these organisms are ideal for studying signaling cascades. Yeasts multiply quickly and are much simpler organisms than humans or other multicellular animals. Therefore, the signaling cascades are also simpler and easier to study, although they contain similar counterparts to human signaling.

G. Manning, G.D. Plowman, T. Hunter, S. Sudarsanam, “Evolution of Protein Kinase Signaling from Yeast to Man,” Trends in Biochemical Sciences 27, no. 10 (2002): 514–520.

Watch this collection of interview clips with biofilm researchers in “What Are Bacterial Biofilms?”

Section summary

Yeasts and multicellular organisms have similar signaling mechanisms. Yeasts use cell-surface receptors and signaling cascades to communicate information on mating with other yeast cells. The signaling molecule secreted by yeasts is called mating factor.

Bacterial signaling is called quorum sensing. Bacteria secrete signaling molecules called autoinducers that are either small, hydrophobic molecules or peptide-based signals. The hydrophobic autoinducers, such as AHL, bind transcription factors and directly affect gene expression. The peptide-based molecules bind kinases and initiate signaling cascades in the cells.

Art connections

[link] Which of the following statements about quorum sensing is false?

  1. Autoinducer must bind to receptor to turn on transcription of genes responsible for the production of more autoinducer.
  2. The receptor stays in the bacterial cell, but the autoinducer diffuses out.
  3. Autoinducer can only act on a different cell: it cannot act on the cell in which it is made.
  4. Autoinducer turns on genes that enable the bacteria to form a biofilm.

[link] C.

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[link] What advantage might biofilm production confer on the S. aureus inside the catheter?

[link] S. aureus produces a biofilm because the higher cell density in the biofilm permits the formation of a dense surface that helps protect the bacteria from antibiotics.

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Source:  OpenStax, Biology. OpenStax CNX. Feb 29, 2016 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11448/1.10
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