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Detection of bacterial quorum sensing N-acyl homoserine lactones in clinical samples

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Abstract

Bacteria communicate among themselves using certain chemical signaling molecules. These signaling molecules generally are N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) in Gram-negative bacteria and oligopeptides in Gram-positive bacteria. In addition, both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria produce a family of signaling molecules known as autoinducer-2 that they employ for their communications. Bacteria coordinate their behavior by releasing and responding to the chemical signaling molecules present in proportion to their population density. This phenomenon is known as quorum sensing. The role of bacteria in the pathogenesis of several diseases, including gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, is well established. Moreover, rather recently bacterial quorum sensing has been implicated in the onset of bacterial pathogenicity. Thus, we hypothesized that the signaling molecules involved in bacterial communication may serve as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and management of several bacteria-related diseases. For that, we previously developed a method based on genetically engineered whole-cell sensing systems for the rapid, sensitive, cost-effective and quantitative detection of AHLs in biological samples, such as saliva and stool, from both healthy and diseased individuals with GI disorders. Although various analytical methods, based on physical-chemical techniques and bacterial whole-cell biosensors, have been developed for the detection of AHLs in the supernatants of bacterial cultures, only a few of them have been applied to AHL monitoring in real samples. In this paper, we report work performed in our laboratory and review that from others that describes the detection of AHLs in biological, clinical samples, and report some of our recent experimental results.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly supported by the National Science Foundation, grant CHE-0416553 and the Broad Foundation, Broad Medical Research Program (BMRP), grant IBD-0198R. We thank the Office of the Vice President of Research of the University of Kentucky for a University Research Professorship to S.D. A.K. and S.D. acknowledge support from a Gill Fellowship and a Gill Eminent Professorship, respectively. A.K. also acknowledges support from the Research Challenge Trust Fund.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506-0055, USA

    Anjali Kumari, Patrizia Pasini & Sylvia Daunert

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  1. Anjali Kumari
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  2. Patrizia Pasini
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  3. Sylvia Daunert
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Correspondence to Sylvia Daunert.

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Kumari, A., Pasini, P. & Daunert, S. Detection of bacterial quorum sensing N-acyl homoserine lactones in clinical samples. Anal Bioanal Chem 391, 1619–1627 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-008-2002-3

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