Quorum Sensing Protects Pseudomonas aeruginosa against Cheating by Other Species in a Laboratory Coculture Model

View/ Open
Issue Date
2015-10Author
Smalley, Nicole E.
An, Dingding
Parsek, Matthew R.
Chandler, Josephine R.
Dandekar, Ajai A.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Many species of bacteria use a cell-cell communication system called quorum sensing (QS) to coordinate group activities. QS systems frequently regulate the production of exoproducts. Some of these products, such as proteases, are “public goods” that are shared among the population and vulnerable to cheating by nonproducing members of the population. Because the QS system of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa regulates several public goods, it can serve as a model for studying cooperation. Bacteria also commonly regulate antimicrobial production through QS. In this study, we focused on the hypothesis that QS-regulated antimicrobials may be important for P. aeruginosa to protect against cheating by another bacterial species, Burkholderia multivorans. We assessed laboratory cocultures of P. aeruginosa and B. multivorans and investigated the importance of three P. aeruginosa QS-regulated antimicrobials, hydrogen cyanide, rhamnolipids, and phenazines, for competition. We found that P. aeruginosa dominates cocultures with B. multivorans and that the three antimicrobials together promote P. aeruginosa competitiveness, with hydrogen cyanide contributing the greatest effect. We show that these QS-regulated antimicrobials are also critical for P. aeruginosa to prevent B. multivorans from cheating under nutrient conditions where both species require a P. aeruginosa quorum-regulated protease for growth. Together our results highlight the importance of antimicrobials in protecting cooperating populations from exploitation by other species that can act as cheaters.
Description
This is the published version. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Collections
Citation
Smalley, Nicole E., Dingding An, Matthew R. Parsek, Josephine R. Chandler, and Ajai A. Dandekar. "Quorum Sensing Protects Pseudomonas Aeruginosa against Cheating by Other Species in a Laboratory Coculture Model." Journal of Bacteriology J. Bacteriol. 197.19 (2015): 3154-159. http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JB.00482-15.
Items in KU ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
We want to hear from you! Please share your stories about how Open Access to this item benefits YOU.