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Infection and Immunity, April 2002, p. 1783-1790, Vol. 70, No. 4
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.4.1783-1790.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Quorum-Sensing Systems May Control Virulence Factor Expression in the Lungs of Patients with Cystic Fibrosis

David L. Erickson,1 Ryan Endersby,1 Amanda Kirkham,1 Kent Stuber,1 Dolina D. Vollman,1 Harvey R. Rabin,2,3,4 Ian Mitchell,5,6 and Douglas G. Storey1,2*

Departments of Biological Sciences,1 Microbiology and Infectious Diseases,2 Medicine,3 Pediatrics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4,5 Foothills Medical Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 4N1,4 Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2T 5C76

Received 31 July 2001/ Returned for modification 19 October 2001/ Accepted 21 December 2001

Individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) are commonly colonized with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The chronic infections caused by P. aeruginosa are punctuated by acute exacerbations of the lung disease, which lead to significant morbidity and mortality. As regulators of virulence determinants, P. aeruginosa quorum-sensing systems may be active in the chronic lung infections associated with CF. We have examined the levels of autoinducer molecules and transcript accumulation from the bacterial populations found in the lungs of patients with CF. We detected biologically active levels of N-(3-oxododecanoyl)-L-homoserine (3-oxo-C12-HSL) and N-butyryl-L-homoserine lactone (C4-HSL) in sputum from CF patients. Interestingly, it appears that C4-HSL is less frequently detected than 3-oxo-C12-HSL in the lungs of patients with CF. We also examined the transcription of the autoinducer synthase gene lasI and showed that it is frequently expressed in the lungs of patients with CF. We observed a significant correlation between the expression of lasI and four target genes of the Las quorum-sensing system. Taken together, our results indicate that quorum-sensing systems are active and may control virulence factor expression in the lungs of patients with CF.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Sciences, 2500 University Dr. N.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4. Phone: (403) 270-5274. Fax: (403) 289-9311. E-mail: storey{at}ucalgary.ca.

Infection and Immunity, April 2002, p. 1783-1790, Vol. 70, No. 4
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.4.1783-1790.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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