A New Class of Quorum Quenching Molecules from Staphylococcus Species Affects Communication and Growth of Gram-Negative Bacteria |
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| Authors: | Ya-Yun Chu Mulugeta Nega Martina W?lfle Laure Plener Stephanie Grond Kirsten Jung Friedrich G?tz |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Tübingen (IMIT), Microbial Genetics, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.; 2. Organic Chemistry, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.; 3. Munich Center for Integrated Protein Science (CiPSM) at the Department of Microbiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Martinsried, Germany.; Harvard Medical School, United States of America, |
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| Abstract: | The knowledge that many pathogens rely on cell-to-cell communication mechanisms known as quorum sensing, opens a new disease control strategy: quorum quenching. Here we report on one of the rare examples where Gram-positive bacteria, the ‘Staphylococcus intermedius group’ of zoonotic pathogens, excrete two compounds in millimolar concentrations that suppress the quorum sensing signaling and inhibit the growth of a broad spectrum of Gram-negative beta- and gamma-proteobacteria. These compounds were isolated from Staphylococcus delphini. They represent a new class of quorum quenchers with the chemical formula N-[2-(1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl]-urea and N-(2-phenethyl)-urea, which we named yayurea A and B, respectively. In vitro studies with the N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) responding receptor LuxN of V. harveyi indicated that both compounds caused opposite effects on phosphorylation to those caused by AHL. This explains the quorum quenching activity. Staphylococcal strains producing yayurea A and B clearly benefit from an increased competitiveness in a mixed community. |
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