Characterization of N-acyl homoserine lactone overproducing mutants of Burkholderia multivorans ATCC 17616

Burkholderia multivorans ATCC 17616 ordinarily produces insufficient amounts of N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) to promote AHL-dependent formation of the pigment violacein by the reporter strain Chromobacterium violaceum CV026. We have isolated AHL-overproducing mutants of strain 17616 by screening for variants which do cross-feed AHLs to strain CV026. Nucleotide-sequence analysis of the bmuIR locus which specifies AHL synthase (Bmul) and AHL-binding transcriptional activator protein (BmuR) indicated that the increased capacity to produce AHLs was not a consequence of changes upstream or internal to the bmul or bmuR genes. We conclude that the mutations leading to AHL overproduction lie outside the bmullbmuR locus. C 2002 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.