Special Issue "Quorum Sensing Research in Microbial Systems"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Jun Zhu
Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 211A Johnson Pavilion, 3610 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6076, USA
Website: http://www.med.upenn.edu/micro/faculty/zhu.html
E-Mail: junzhu@mail.med.upenn.edu
Interests: bacterial pathogenesis; host-microbe interaction; signal transduction; quorum sensing; gene regulation; biofilms

Dear Colleagues,

Single-celled bacteria are able to produce and respond to small diffusible molecules called autoinducers. These molecules accumulate as cell density increases and regulate the expression of a range of genes to control a variety of physiological functions, in a process known as quorum sensing (QS). Many species of bacteria exchange chemical signals to help them monitor their population densities. Not long ago, it was thought that QS was a rare phenomenon limited to a few bacterial species. Recently, however, many new examples of interbacterial signaling have been reported. Among them, acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) QS signaling systems are arguably the best-understood chemical language used by Gram-negative bacteria. QS systems fundamentally blur the distinction between unicellular and multicellular forms of life. Many QS systems are also extremely important to human health, since they regulate virulence determinants in bacterial pathogens.

Prof. Dr. Jun Zhu
Guest Editor

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• quorum sensing
• bacterial communication
• autoinducers
• multicellularity
• quorum quenching
• intercellular signaling
• signal transduction
• small RNAs

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Quorum sensing in Yersinia enterocolitica
Author: Stephen C. Winans
Affiliation: Departments of Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA; E-Mail: scw2@cornell.edu
Abstract: Yersinia enterocolitica is a human pathogen that causes yersiniosis, and is related to Yersinia pestis, which causes bubonic plague.  These organisms encode highly similar cell-cell communication systems.  In Y. enterocolitica, YenI synthesizes the pheromone 3-oxo-hexanoyl homoserine lactone (OHHL), while YenR is an OHHL receptor and transcription factor.  YenR functions only in the absence of OHHL.  Apo-YenR activates transcription of a small nocoding RNA (sRNA) called YenS, which is partially complementary to the YenI mRNA.  Activation of the yenS gene at low cell densities therefore inhibits YenI protein synthesis and OHHL accumulation.  Inhibition of yenS transcription at high cell density causes elevated YenI synthesis and elevated OHHL accumulation.  This is predicted to create a bi-stable switch with an unstable intermediate.  YenS also plays a positive role in swarming motility across a semisolid agar surface.  A second sRNA, YenT is partially complementary to YenS, and inhibits YenS function, probably by forming a double-stranded molecule in the region of complementarity.