Frequency modulation of a bacterial quorum sensing response

Vera Bettenworth (), Simon Vliet, Bartosz Turkowyd, Annika Bamberger, Heiko Wendt, Matthew McIntosh, Wieland Steinchen, Ulrike Endesfelder and Anke Becker ()
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Vera Bettenworth: Philipps-Universität Marburg
Simon Vliet: University of Basel
Bartosz Turkowyd: Philipps-Universität Marburg
Annika Bamberger: Philipps-Universität Marburg
Heiko Wendt: Philipps-Universität Marburg
Matthew McIntosh: Philipps-Universität Marburg
Wieland Steinchen: Philipps-Universität Marburg
Ulrike Endesfelder: Philipps-Universität Marburg
Anke Becker: Philipps-Universität Marburg

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract In quorum sensing, bacteria secrete or release small molecules into the environment that, once they reach a certain threshold, trigger a behavioural change in the population. As the concentration of these so-called autoinducers is supposed to reflect population density, they were originally assumed to be continuously produced by all cells in a population. However, here we show that in the α-proteobacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti expression of the autoinducer synthase gene is realized in asynchronous stochastic pulses that result from scarcity and, presumably, low binding affinity of the key activator. Physiological cues modulate pulse frequency, and pulse frequency in turn modulates the velocity with which autoinducer levels in the environment reach the threshold to trigger the quorum sensing response. We therefore propose that frequency-modulated pulsing in S. meliloti represents the molecular mechanism for a collective decision-making process in which each cell’s physiological state and need for behavioural adaptation is encoded in the pulse frequency with which it expresses the autoinducer synthase gene; the pulse frequencies of all members of the population are then integrated in the common pool of autoinducers, and only once this vote crosses the threshold, the response behaviour is initiated.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30307-6

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