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Journal of Bacteriology, June 2009, p. 3909-3918, Vol. 191, No. 12
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00200-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Quorum-Sensing Control of Antibiotic Synthesis in Burkholderia thailandensis

Breck A. Duerkop,^1, John Varga,² Josephine R. Chandler,¹ Snow Brook Peterson,¹ Jake P. Herman,⁴ Mair E. A. Churchill,⁴ Matthew R. Parsek,¹ William C. Nierman,^2,3 and E. Peter Greenberg^1*

Department of Microbiology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington 98195-7242,¹ J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, Maryland 20850,² Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC 20037,³ Department of Pharmacology, Program in Biomolecular Structure, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado 80045⁴

Received 15 February 2009/ Accepted 6 April 2009

The genome of Burkholderia thailandensis codes for several LuxR-LuxI quorum-sensing systems. We used B. thailandensis quorum-sensing deletion mutants and recombinant Escherichia coli to determine the nature of the signals produced by one of the systems, BtaR2-BtaI2, and to show that this system controls genes required for the synthesis of an antibiotic. BtaI2 is an acyl-homoserine lactone (acyl-HSL) synthase that produces two hydroxylated acyl-HSLs, N-3-hydroxy-decanoyl-HSL (3OHC₁₀-HSL) and N-3-hydroxy-octanoyl-HSL (3OHC₈-HSL). The btaI2 gene is positively regulated by BtaR2 in response to either 3OHC₁₀-HSL or 3OHC₈-HSL. The btaR2-btaI2 genes are located within clusters of genes with annotations that suggest they are involved in the synthesis of polyketide or peptide antibiotics. Stationary-phase cultures of wild-type B. thailandensis, but not a btaR2 mutant or a strain deficient in acyl-HSL synthesis, produced an antibiotic effective against gram-positive bacteria. Two of the putative antibiotic synthesis gene clusters require BtaR2 and either 3OHC₁₀-HSL or 3OHC₈-HSL for activation. This represents another example where antibiotic synthesis is controlled by quorum sensing, and it has implications for the evolutionary divergence of B. thailandensis and its close relatives Burkholderia pseudomallei and Burkholderia mallei.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, University of Washington School of Medicine, 1705 N.E. Pacific Street, Campus Box 357242, Seattle, WA 98195-7242. Phone: (206) 616-2881. Fax: (206) 616-2968. E-mail: epgreen{at}u.washington.edu

Published ahead of print on 17 April 2009.

Present address: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Immunology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390.

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Journal of Bacteriology, June 2009, p. 3909-3918, Vol. 191, No. 12
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00200-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Chandler, J. R., Duerkop, B. A., Hinz, A., West, T. E., Herman, J. P., Churchill, M. E. A., Skerrett, S. J., Greenberg, E. P. (2009). Mutational Analysis of Burkholderia thailandensis Quorum Sensing and Self-Aggregation. J. Bacteriol. 191: 5901-5909 [Abstract] [Full Text]