Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans has the ability to adhere to mineral and to form biofilm, which favors the leaching of ores. Biofilm formation is due to the production of extracellular polymeric substances. The genes involved in this process are controlled by a cellular communication system called Quorum Sensing ( QS). The QS describes a cell density-dependent phenomenon that occurs mainly through the production of acyl homoserine lactones (AHL) in Gram-negative bacteria. Synthetic analogs of AHLs ( AHLs) activating or inhibiting biofilm formation have been identified. To characterize the QS regulon of At. ferrooxidans, a global approach using a genome-wide microarray transcript profiling analysis was undertaken by comparing At. ferrooxidans grown on sulfur with or without an AHLs promoting adherence to mineral. A number of genes are regulated in the presence of this AHL. A preliminary model based on these results will be presented. This work is the first one studying the QS regulon in this bioleaching bacterium by functional genomics.
quorum sensing Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans acyl homoserine lactone trancriptome
S. Mamani Y. Denis L. Soulere A. Doutheau Y. Queneau C. Demergasso V. Bonnefoy N. Guiliani
Laboratories de Comunicacion Bacteriana, Departamento de Biologfa, Facultad de Ciencias,Universidad Platform Transcriptome, Institut de Microbiologie de la Mediterranee,CNRS et Aix-Marseille Universit Laboratoire de Chimie Organique, UMR 5246 -ICBMS CNRS, Universite Lyon 1,INSA, Lyon, France Centra de Biotecnologia, Universidad Catolica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile Laboratoire de Chimie Bacterienne, Institut de Microbiologie de la Mediterranee,CNRS et Aix-Marseill