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  • The EMBO Journal (2003) 22, 870 - 881
  • doi:10.1093/emboj/cdg085

Vibrio harveyi quorum sensing: a coincidence detector for two autoinducers controls gene expression

Kenny C. Mok1, Ned S. Wingreen2 and Bonnie L. Bassler1

  1. Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544-1014 USA
  2. NEC Laboratories America, Inc., 4 Independence Way, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA

Correspondence to:

Bonnie L. Bassler, E-mail: bbassler@molbio.princeton.edu

Received 19 September 2002; Accepted 19 December 2002; Revised 6 December 2002

In a process called quorum sensing, bacteria communicate with one another by exchanging chemical signals called autoinducers. In the bioluminescent marine bacterium Vibrio harveyi, two different auto inducers (AI-1 and AI-2) regulate light emission. Detection of and response to the V.harveyi autoinducers are accomplished through two two-component sensory relay systems: AI-1 is detected by the sensor LuxN and AI-2 by LuxPQ. Here we further define the V.harveyi quorum-sensing regulon by identifying 10 new quorum-sensing-controlled target genes. Our examination of signal processing and integration in the V.harveyi quorum-sensing circuit suggests that AI-1 and AI-2 act synergistically, and that the V.harveyi quorum-sensing circuit may function exclusively as a 'coincidence detector' that discriminates between conditions in which both autoinducers are present and all other conditions.

  • Keywords:

    • autoinducer,
    • coincidence detector,
    • quorum sensing,
    • signal transduction