Vibrio harveyi quorum sensing: a coincidence detector for two autoinducers controls gene expression

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Abstract
In a process called quorum sensing, bacteria communicate with one another by exchanging chemical signals called autoinducers. In the bioluminescent marine bacterium Vibrio harveyi, two different auto inducers (AI‐1 and AI‐2) regulate light emission. Detection of and response to the V.harveyi autoinducers are accomplished through two two‐component sensory relay systems: AI‐1 is detected by the sensor LuxN and AI‐2 by LuxPQ. Here we further define the V.harveyi quorum‐sensing regulon by identifying 10 new quorum‐sensing‐controlled target genes. Our examination of signal processing and integration in the V.harveyi quorum‐sensing circuit suggests that AI‐1 and AI‐2 act synergistically, and that the V.harveyi quorum‐sensing circuit may function exclusively as a ‘coincidence detector’ that discriminates between conditions in which both autoinducers are present and all other conditions.