Quorum Sensing
Journal Title: MedPulse -International Medical Journal - Year 2014, Vol 1, Issue 9
Abstract
Quorum sensing is the regulation of gene expression in response to fluctuations in cell population density. Quorum sensing bacteria produce and release chemical signal molecules called autoinducers that increase in concentration as a function of cell density. The detection of a minimal threshold stimulatory concentration of an autoinducer leads to an alteration in gene expression. Quorum sensing allows bacteria to monitor the environment for other bacteria and to alter behavior on a population-wide scale in response to changes in the number and/or species present in a community. Most quorum sensing controlled processes are unproductive when undertaken by an individual bacterium acting alone but become beneficial when carried out simultaneously by a large number of cells. Thus, quorum sensing confuses the distinction between prokaryotes and eukaryotes because it enables bacteria to act as multicellular organisms. These processes include symbiosis, virulence, competence, conjugation, antibiotic production, motility, sporulation, and biofilm formation. Recent advances in the field indicate that cell-cell communication via autoinducers occurs both within and between bacterial species. Furthermore, bacterial autoinducers elicit specific responses from host organisms. Although the nature of the chemical signals, the signal relay mechanisms, and the target genes controlled by bacterial quorum sensing systems differ, in every case the ability to communicate with one another allows bacteria to coordinate the gene expression, and therefore the behavior, of the entire community. Presumably, this process bestows upon bacteria some of the qualities of higher organisms. Quorum sensing and its inhibition (quorum quenching) have significant clinical implications in terms of antimicrobial therapy.
Authors and Affiliations
Mukund Joshi, Rajesh Pandey, Kuldip Singh Sodhi, Jasbir Singh
Keywords
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