Abstract
The two-component quorum sensing (QS) system, first described in the marine bacterium Vibrio harveyi and evolutionarily conserved among members of the genus Vibrio, has been best studied in the human pathogen Vibrio cholerae (1, 2). In the V. cholerae QS system, the response to the accumulation of extracellular autoinducers triggers a signaling cascade resulting in the transcription of four small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs). Our results support the model that the QS sRNAs bind to the 5′ untranslated region of multiple mRNAs and alter the fate of one in a positive manner and several others in a negative manner. This mechanism ensures the proper timing of the QS response, which includes the expression of traits critical for virulence and for the formation of biofilms (2–6).
Key words
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Hammer, B. K., and Bassler, B. L. (2008) Signal integration in the Vibrio harveyi and Vibrio cholerae quorum sensing circuits, Washington, DC Stephen C Winans and Bonnie L. Bassler 323–332.
Lenz, D. H., Mok, K. C., Lilley, B. N., Kulkarni, R. V., Wingreen, N. S., and Bassler, B. L. (2004) The small RNA chaperone Hfq and multiple small RNAs control quorum sensing in Vibrio harveyi and Vibrio cholerae, Cell 118, 69–82.
Miller, M. B., Skorupski, K., Lenz, D. H., Taylor, R. K., and Bassler, B. L. (2002) Parallel quorum sensing systems converge to regulate virulence in Vibrio cholerae, Cell 110, 303–314.
Zhu, J., Miller, M. B., Vance, R. E., Dziejman, M., Bassler, B. L., and Mekalanos, J. J. (2002) Quorum-sensing regulators control virulence gene expression in Vibrio cholerae, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99, 3129–3134.
Svenningsen, S. L., Tu, K. C., and Bassler, B. L. (2009) Gene dosage compensation calibrates four regulatory RNAs to control Vibrio cholerae quorum sensing, EMBO J 28, 429–439.
Hammer, B. K., and Bassler, B. L. (2009) Distinct sensory pathways in Vibrio cholerae El Tor and classical biotypes modulate cyclic dimeric GMP levels to control biofilm formation, J Bacteriol 191, 169–177.
Hammer, B. K., and Bassler, B. L. (2003) Quorum sensing controls biofilm formation in Vibrio cholerae, Mol Microbiol 50, 101–104.
Zhu, J., and Mekalanos, J. J. (2003) Quorum sensing-dependent biofilms enhance colonization in Vibrio cholerae, Dev Cell 5, 647–656.
Hammer, B. K., and Bassler, B. L. (2007) Regulatory small RNAs circumvent the conventional quorum sensing pathway in pandemic Vibrio cholerae, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104, 11145–11149.
Dunn, A. K., Millikan, D. S., Adin, D. M., Bose, J. L., and Stabb, E. V. (2006) New rfp- and pES213-derived tools for analyzing symbiotic Vibrio fischeri reveal patterns of infection and lux expression in situ, Appl Environ Microbiol 72, 802–810.
Dehio, C., and Meyer, M. (1997) Maintenance of broad-host-range incompatibility group P and group Q plasmids and transposition of Tn5 in Bartonella henselae following conjugal plasmid transfer from Escherichia coli, J Bacteriol 179, 538–540.
Vogel, J., and Wagner, E. G. (2007) Target identification of small noncoding RNAs in bacteria, Curr Opin Microbiol 10, 262–270.
Aiba, H. (2007) Mechanism of RNA silencing by Hfq-binding small RNAs, Curr Opin Microbiol 10, 134–139.
Tjaden, B. (2008) TargetRNA: a tool for predicting targets of small RNA action in bacteria, Nucleic Acids Res 36, W109–W113.
Horton, R. M., Hunt, H. D., Ho, S. N., Pullen, J. K., and Pease, L. R. (1989) Engineering hybrid genes without the use of restriction enzymes: gene splicing by overlap extension, Gene 77, 61–68.
Skorupski, K., and Taylor, R. K. (1996) Positive selection vectors for allelic exchange, Gene 169, 47–52.
de Boer, H. A., Comstock, L. J., and Vasser, M. (1983) The tac promoter: a functional hybrid derived from the trp and lac promoters, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 80, 21–25.
Zuker, M. (2003) Mfold web server for nucleic acid folding and hybridization prediction, Nucleic Acids Res 31, 3406–3415.
Rehmsmeier, M., Steffen, P., Hochsmann, M., and Giegerich, R. (2004) Fast and effective prediction of microRNA/target duplexes, RNA 10, 1507–1517.
Schauder, S, Shokat, K., Surette, M. G., and Bassler, B.L. (2001) The LuxS family of bacterial autoinducers: biosynthesis of a novel quorum-sensing signal molecule, Mol Microbiol 41, 463–476.
Higgins, D. A., Pomianek, M. E., Kraml, C. M., Taylor, R. K., Semmelhack, M. F., and Bassler, B. L. (2007) The major Vibrio cholerae autoinducer and its role in virulence factor production, Nature 450, 883–886.
Acknowledgment
This material is based upon the work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0919821. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Hammer, B.K., Svenningsen, S.L. (2011). Small RNA Target Genes and Regulatory Connections in the Vibrio cholerae Quorum Sensing System. In: Rumbaugh, K. (eds) Quorum Sensing. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 692. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-971-0_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-971-0_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-60761-970-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-60761-971-0
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols