Molecular characterization of autoinduction of bioluminescence in the Microtox indicator strain Vibrio fischeri ATCC 49387

Repeated attempts to clone the luxI from Vibrio fischeri ATCC 49387 failed to produce a clone carrying a functional LuxI. Sequence data from the clones revealed the presence of a polymorphism when compared with previously published luxI sequences, prompting further characterization of bioluminescence regulation in V. fischeri ATCC 49387. Further investigation of V. fischeri ATCC 49387 revealed that its LuxI protein lacks detectable LuxI activity due to the presence of a glutamine residue at position 125 in the deduced amino acid sequence. Specific bioluminescence in V. fischeri ATCC 49387 increases with increasing cell density, indicative of a typical autoinduction response. However, conditioned medium from this strain does not induce bioluminescence in an ATCC 49387 luxR-plux-based acyl homoserine lactone reporter strain, but does induce bioluminescence in ATCC 49387. It has been previously shown that a V. fischeri MJ-1 luxI mutant exhibits autoinduction of bioluminescence through N-octanoyl-L-homoserine lactone, the product of the AinS autoinducer synthase. However, a bioreporter based on luxR-plux from V. fischeri ATCC 49387 responded poorly to conditioned medium from V. fischeri ATCC 49387 and also responded poorly to authentic N-octanoyl-DL-homoserine lactone. A similar MJ-1-based bioreporter showed significant induction under the same conditions. A putative ainS gene cloned from ATCC 49387, unlike luxI from ATCC 49387, expresses V. fischeri autoinducer synthase activity in Escherichia coli. This study suggests that a regulatory mechanism independent of LuxR and LuxI but possibly involving AinS is responsible for the control of autoinduction of bioluminescence in V. fischeri ATCC 49387.     

Quorum sensing in Vibrio fischeri: evidence that S-adenosylmethionine is the amino acid substrate for autoinducer synthesis.

Synthesis of the autoinducer signal involved in the cell density-dependent activation of Vibrio fischeri luminescence is directed by luxI. The autoinducer is N-(3-oxohexanoyl)homoserine lactone, and little is known about its synthesis. We have measured autoinducer synthesis by amino acid auxotrophs of Escherichia coli that contained luxI on a high-copy-number plasmid. Experiments with cell suspensions starved for methionine or homoserine show that either methionine or S-adenosylmethionine but not homoserine or homoserine lactone is required for autoinducer synthesis. The S-adenosylmethionine synthesis inhibitor cycloleucine blocks methionine-dependent autoinducer synthesis. Thus, it appears that S-adenosylmethionine rather than methionine is the molecule required for autoinducer synthesis. The amount of 15N-labeled methionine incorporated into the autoinducer by growing cultures of a homoserine and a methionine auxotroph was measured by mass spectrometry. The labeling studies show that even in the presence of homoserine, almost all of the autoinducer produced contains the 15N label from methionine. Thus, it appears that S-adenosylmethionine serves as the amino acid substrate in the luxI-dependent synthesis of the V. fischeri autoinducer.     

Purification and structural identification of an autoinducer for the luminescence system of Vibrio harveyi

An autoinducer required for the growth-dependent development of luminescence in Vibrio harveyi has been purified, structurally identified, and chemically synthesized. The autoinducer, which is excreted by the cells, was extracted with chloroform from conditioned media in which V. harveyi cells had been grown. The concentrated extract was separated on a silica gel column and the autoinducer activity further purified by thin layer, paper, and high performance liquid chromatography. The structure of the partially purified autoinducer was identified by 1H NMR and mass spectrometry as N-(beta-hydroxybutyryl)homoserine lactone. This compound was chemically synthesized by condensation of beta-hydroxybutyrate with alpha-amino-gamma-butyrolactone hydrobromide using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide as a carboxyl group activator. The pure synthetic autoinducer gave the characteristic NMR and mass spectra, co-migrated with the natural autoinducer on thin layer plates, and specifically stimulated induction of luminescence of V. harveyi. Light emission of a regulatory dark mutant of V. harveyi could be stimulated over 1000-fold by the addition of N-(beta-hydroxybutyryl)homoserine lactone, reaching intensities comparable to that of the native strain. The similarity in structure of the autoinducer of V. harveyi to that of Vibrio fischeri suggests that the regulation of luminescence induction in these bacteria may be related in spite of their differences in lux gene organization.     

Dominance of Vibrio fischeri in secreted mucus outside the light organ of Euprymna scolopes: the first site of symbiont specificity

Previous studies of the Euprymna scolopes-Vibrio fischeri symbiosis have demonstrated that, during colonization, the hatchling host secretes mucus in which gram-negative environmental bacteria amass in dense aggregations outside the sites of infection. In this study, experiments with green fluorescent protein-labeled symbiotic and nonsymbiotic species of gram-negative bacteria were used to characterize the behavior of cells in the aggregates. When hatchling animals were exposed to 10(3) to 10(6) V. fischeri cells/ml added to natural seawater, which contains a mix of approximately 10(6) nonspecific bacterial cells/ml, V. fischeri cells were the principal bacterial cells present in the aggregations. Furthermore, when animals were exposed to equal cell numbers of V. fischeri (either a motile or a nonmotile strain) and either Vibrio parahaemolyticus or Photobacterium leiognathi, phylogenetically related gram-negative bacteria that also occur in the host's habitat, the symbiont cells were dominant in the aggregations. The presence of V. fischeri did not compromise the viability of these other species in the aggregations, and no significant growth of V. fischeri cells was detected. These findings suggested that dominance results from the ability of V. fischeri either to accumulate or to be retained more effectively within the mucus. Viability of the V. fischeri cells was required for both the formation of tight aggregates and their dominance in the mucus. Neither of the V. fischeri quorum-sensing compounds accumulated in the aggregations, which suggested that the effects of these small signal molecules are not critical to V. fischeri dominance. Taken together, these data provide evidence that the specificity of the squid-vibrio symbiosis begins early in the interaction, in the mucus where the symbionts aggregate outside of the light organ.     

Population dynamics of Vibrio fischeri during infection of Euprymna scolopes

The luminous bacterium Vibrio fischeri colonizes a specialized light-emitting organ within its squid host, Euprymna scolopes. Newly hatched juvenile squid must acquire their symbiont from ambient seawater, where the bacteria are present at low concentrations. To understand the population dynamics of V. fischeri during colonization more fully, we used mini-Tn7 transposons to mark bacteria with antibiotic resistance so that the growth of their progeny could be monitored. When grown in culture, there was no detectable metabolic burden on V. fischeri cells carrying the transposon, which inserts in single copy in a specific intergenic region of the V. fischeri genome. Strains marked with mini-Tn7 also appeared to be equivalent to the wild type in their ability to infect and multiply within the host during coinoculation experiments. Studies of the early stages of colonization suggested that only a few bacteria became associated with symbiotic tissue when animals were exposed for a discrete period (3 h) to an inoculum of V. fischeri cells equivalent to natural population levels; nevertheless, all these hosts became infected. When three differentially marked strains of V. fischeri were coincubated with juvenile squid, the number of strains recovered from an individual symbiotic organ was directly dependent on the size of the inoculum. Further, these results indicated that, when exposed to low numbers of V. fischeri, the host may become colonized by only one or a few bacterial cells, suggesting that symbiotic infection is highly efficient.     

Shedding light on bioluminescence regulation in Vibrio fischeri

The bioluminescence emitted by the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri is a particularly striking result of individual microbial cells co-ordinating a group behaviour. The genes responsible for light production are principally regulated by the LuxR-LuxI quorum-sensing system. In addition to LuxR-LuxI, numerous other genetic elements and environmental conditions control bioluminescence production. Efforts to mathematically model the LuxR-LuxI system are providing insight into the dynamics of this autoinduction behaviour. The Hawaiian squid Euprymna scolopes forms a natural symbiosis with V. fischeri, and utilizes the symbiont-derived bioluminescence for certain nocturnal behaviours, such as counterillumination. Recent work suggests that the tissue with which V. fischeri associates not only can detect bioluminescence but may also use this light to monitor the V. fischeri population.