Intra-Species Bacterial Quorum Sensing Studied at Single Cell Level in a Double Droplet Trapping System

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Yunpeng Bai¹  Santoshkumar N. Patil¹  Steven D. Bowden²  Simon Poulter²  Jie Pan¹  George P. C. Salmond²  Martin Welch²  Wilhelm T. S. Huck¹ 

[1] Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK; E-Mails:;Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QW, UK; E-Mails:

关键词: droplet-based microfluidics;    bacterial quorum sensing;    single cell;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms140510570

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

In this paper, we investigated the intra-species bacterial quorum sensing at the single cell level using a double droplet trapping system. Escherichia coli transformed to express the quorum sensing receptor protein, LasR, were encapsulated in microdroplets that were positioned adjacent to microdroplets containing the autoinducer, N-(3-oxododecanoyl)- l-homoserine lactone (OdDHL). Functional activation of the LasR protein by diffusion of the OdDHL across the droplet interface was measured by monitoring the expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) from a LasR-dependent promoter. A threshold concentration of OdDHL was found to induce production of quorum-sensing associated GFP by E. coli. Additionally, we demonstrated that LasR-dependent activation of GFP expression was also initiated when the adjacent droplets contained single E. coli transformed with the OdDHL synthase gene, LasI, representing a simple quorum sensing circuit between two droplets.

【 授权许可】

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