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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2001, p. 4210-4216, Vol. 183, No. 14
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.14.4210-4216.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Indole Can Act as an Extracellular Signal in Escherichia coli

Dandan Wang,1 Xuedong Ding,1 and Philip N. Rather1,2,*

Departments of Medicine and Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine,1 and Research Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center,2 Cleveland, Ohio 44106

Received 25 January 2001/Accepted 26 April 2001

Previous work has shown that lacZ fusions to the cysK, astD, tnaB, and gabT genes in Escherichia coli are activated by self-produced extracellular signals. Using a combination of ethyl acetate extraction, reversed-phase C18 chromatography, and thin-layer chromatography, we have purified an extracellular activating signal from E. coli supernatants. Mass spectrometry revealed a molecule with an m/z peak of 117, consistent with indole. Nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of the purified E. coli factor and synthetic indole revealed identical profiles. Using synthetic indole, a dose-dependent activation was observed with lacZ fusions to the gabT, astD, and tnaB genes. However, cysK::lacZ and several control fusions were not significantly activated by indole. Conditioned medium prepared from a tnaA (tryptophanase) mutant, deficient in indole production, supported 26 to 41% lower activation of the gabT and astD fusions. The residual level of activation may be due to a second activating signal. Activation of the tnaB::lacZ fusion was reduced by greater than 70% in conditioned medium from a tnaA mutant.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Infectious Diseases, BRB-10, Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine, 10900 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44106. Phone: (216) 368-0733. Fax: (216) 368-2034. E-mail: pxr17{at}po.cwru.edu.

Journal of Bacteriology, July 2001, p. 4210-4216, Vol. 183, No. 14
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.14.4210-4216.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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