Detection of the quorum quenching enzyme AiiA in a Venezuelan collection of Bacillus thuringiensis and their potential use to inhibit the quorum sensing of Erwinia carotovora

Gillis, Annika;Santana, Maria A;Rodríguez, Margarita
(2009) 3rd Congress of European Microbiologists-FEMS 2009 — Location: Gothenburg, Sweden (28.June.2009)

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  • Gillis, Annikaorcid-logoUCLouvain
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  • Santana, Maria AUniversidad Simón Bolívar
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  • Rodríguez, MargaritaUniversidad Simón Bolívar
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Abstract
Background: Bacteria sense their population density and coordinate the expression of target genes, including virulence factors in Gram-negative bacteria, by N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs)-dependent quorum sensing (QS) mechanism. In contrast, several soil bacteria, as Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), are able to interfere with this mechanism by enzymatic degradation of the lactone ring of AHLs, referred to as quorum quenching (QQ). The AHL-degrading enzyme, AHL-lactonase (AiiA) first identified in Bacillus species, has been reported to be widespread in many subspecies of Bt. Objectives: 1. Evaluation of the production of AHL-lactonases in different isolations of Bt strains from Venezuela. 2. Determination of the potential use of the producing AHL-lactonases strains to interrupt QS from the plant pathogenic bacteria Erwinia carotovora. Methods: Detection of the gen aiiA by PCR in a Venezuelan collection of Bt. Determination of the production of AHL-lactonases by Bt strains through the QQ of the QS signals produced by Erwinia carotovora using the reporter QS strain Chromobacterium violaceum (CV026). Results: PCR screenings of the Bt Venezuelan collection revealed that the gen aiiA was present in 48% of the strains. 10 of the strains with the gen aiiA were tested for their ability to produce AHL-lactonases based on pigmentation inhibition of the reporter strain CV026. In this case, a lack of pigment production of the reporter strain indicates the presence of the QQ mechanism for the QS of E. carotovora. The Bt strains showed different levels of inhibition of the QS system. 3 of these isolates presented a strong inhibition of the QS, while 2 strains didn’t show any AHL-degrading activity despite having the gen aiiA and suggesting that these 2 strains don’t produce or express the AHL-lactonases. The 5 others isolates seemed to have a medium pigment inhibition. Conclusions: These results indicate that the Bt strains of a Venezuelan collection might have potential to compete and inactivate de QS system of some plant pathogenic bacteria as E. carotovora.
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Gillis, A., Santana, M. A., & Rodríguez, M. (2009). Detection of the quorum quenching enzyme AiiA in a Venezuelan collection of Bacillus thuringiensis and their potential use to inhibit the quorum sensing of Erwinia carotovora. 3rd Congress of European Microbiologists-FEMS 2009, Gothenburg, Sweden. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/194946