Journal
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
Volume 6, Issue 1, Pages 41-45Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NCHEMBIO.264
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Funding
- US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) [FA 9550-07-1-0054]
- US National Science Foundation [DGE-0504276]
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency [B0844671]
- US National Institutes of Health (NIH) [AI-037142, AI-047441]
- NIH [R01 AI-064926]
- US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering
- Sandia National Laboratories
- NIH/Roadmap for Medical Research [PHS 2 PN2 EY016570B]
- US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration [DE-AC04-94AL85000]
- NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE [PN2EY016570] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES [R01AI064926, R01AI047441, R21AI081090, R01AI037142] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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It is postulated that in addition to cell density, other factors such as the dimensions and diffusional characteristics of the environment could influence quorum sensing (QS) and induction of genetic reprogramming. Modeling studies predict that QS may operate at the level of a single cell, but, owing to experimental challenges, the potential benefits of QS by individual cells remain virtually unexplored. Here we report a physical system that mimics isolation of a bacterium, such as within an endosome or phagosome during infection, and maintains cell viability under conditions of complete chemical and physical isolation. For Staphylococcus aureus, we show that quorum sensing and genetic reprogramming can occur in a single isolated organism. Quorum sensing allows S. aureus to sense confinement and to activate virulence and metabolic pathways needed for survival. To demonstrate the benefit of confinement-induced quorum sensing to individuals, we showed that quorum-sensing bacteria have significantly greater viability over non-QS bacteria.
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