Host monitoring of quorum sensing during Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection
Moura-Alves P., Puyskens A., Stinn A., Klemm M., Guhlich-Bornhof U., Dorhoi A., Furkert J., Kreuchwig A., Protze J., Lozza L., Pei G., Saikali P., Perdomo C., Mollenkopf HJ., Hurwitz R., Kirschhoefer F., Brenner-Weiss G., Weiner J., Oschkinat H., Kolbe M., Krause G., Kaufmann SHE.
Spying on bacterial signals Many bacteria produce small molecules for monitoring population density and thus regulating their collective behavior, a process termed quorum sensing. Pathogens like Pseudomonas aeruginosa , which complicates cystic fibrosis disease, produce different quorum-sensing ligands at different stages of infection. Moura-Alves et al. used experiments in human cells, zebrafish, and mice to show that a host organism can eavesdrop on these bacterial conversations. A host sensor responds differentially to bacterial quorum-sensing molecules to activate or repress different response pathways. The ability to “listen in” on bacterial signaling provides the host with the capacity to fine-tune physiologically costly immune responses. Science , this issue p. eaaw1629