Quorum Quenching in Culturable Phyllosphere Bacteria from Tobacco

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Anzhou Ma²  Di Lv¹  Xuliang Zhuang² 

[1] Insitute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; E-Mail:;Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; E-Mails:

关键词: quorum quenching;    bacteria;    phyllosphere;    biosassay;    N-acyl-homoserine lactone;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms140714607

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Many Gram-negative plant pathogenic bacteria employ a N-acylhomoserine lactone (AHL)-based quorum sensing (QS) system to regulate their virulence traits. A sustainable biocontrol strategy has been developed using quorum quenching (QQ) bacteria to interfere with QS and protect plants from pathogens. Here, the prevalence and the diversity of QQ strains inhabiting tobacco leaf surfaces were explored. A total of 1177 leaf-associated isolates were screened for their ability to disrupt AHL-mediated QS, using the biosensor Chromobacterium violaceum CV026. One hundred and sixty-eight strains (14%) are capable of interfering with AHL activity. Among these, 106 strains (63%) of the culturable quenchers can enzymatically degrade AHL molecules, while the remaining strains might use other QS inhibitors to interrupt the chemical communication. Moreover, almost 79% of the QQ strains capable of inactivating AHLs enzymatically have lactonase activity. Further phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rDNA revealed that the leaf-associated QQ bacteria can be classified as Bacillus sp., Acinetobacter sp., Lysinibacillus sp., Serratia sp., Pseudomonas sp., and Myroides sp. The naturally occurring diversity of bacterial quenchers might provide opportunities to use them as effective biocontrol reagents for suppressing plant pathogen in situ.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland