1. Department of Periodontics, and
2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104, USA

Correspondence to: Marvin Whiteley^1,2 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.W. (Email: marvin-whiteley@ouhsc.edu).

Abstract

Many bacteria use extracellular signals to communicate and coordinate social activities, a process referred to as quorum sensing¹. Many quorum signals have significant hydrophobic character, and how these signals are trafficked between bacteria within a population is not understood. Here we show that the opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa packages the signalling molecule 2-heptyl-3-hydroxy-4-quinolone (pseudomonas quinolone signal; PQS)² into membrane vesicles that serve to traffic this molecule within a population. Removal of these vesicles from the bacterial population halts cell–cell communication and inhibits PQS-controlled group behaviour. We also show that PQS actively mediates its own packaging and the packaging of other antimicrobial quinolines produced by P. aeruginosa into vesicles. These findings illustrate that a prokaryote possesses a signal trafficking system with features common to those used by higher organisms and outlines a novel mechanism for delivery of a signal critical for coordinating group behaviour in P. aeruginosa.

1. Department of Periodontics, and
2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104, USA

Correspondence to: Marvin Whiteley^1,2 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.W. (Email: marvin-whiteley@ouhsc.edu).

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