Localized quorum sensing in Vibrio fischeri |
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Authors: | Parent Mary E Snyder Charles E Kopp Nathaniel D Velegol Darrell |
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Affiliation: | aDepartment of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, United States |
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Abstract: | Quorum sensing is almost always regarded as a population density effect in three-dimensional bulk samples of bacteria. Here we create two-dimensional samples of Vibrio fischeri cells adhered onto glass surfaces to examine the effect of local population densities on quorum sensing. This is done by measuring the luminescent response. The 2-D bacterial populations enable us to simultaneously account for time and distance effects on quorum sensing, which were previously very challenging to access in typical three-dimensional bulk samples. Thus, we are able to consider quorum sensing in terms of signal diffusion. A diffusion model of quorum sensing signals guides the experiments and shows that for a given cell spacing (density) and diffusion time there exists a “true quorum”— a number of cells necessary for quorum sensing. We find that quorum sensing can occur locally in 2-D surface samples and is a function of cell population density as well as signal diffusion time. |
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Keywords: | Cell–cell communication Cell signaling Diffusion model Population dependence Luminescence AHL |
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