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Infection and Immunity, February 2005, p. 878-882, Vol. 73, No. 2
0019-9567/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.73.2.878-882.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Solubility and Bioactivity of the Pseudomonas Quinolone Signal Are Increased by a Pseudomonas aeruginosa-Produced Surfactant

M. Worth Calfee, John G. Shelton, James A. McCubrey, and Everett C. Pesci*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina

Received 20 July 2004/ Returned for modification 23 August 2004/ Accepted 2 October 2004

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a gram-negative bacterium that causes serious infections in immunocompromised individuals and cystic fibrosis patients. This opportunistic pathogen controls many of its virulence factors and cellular functions through the activity of three cell-to-cell signals, N-(3-oxododecanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone, N-butyryl-L-homoserine lactone, and the Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS). The activity of these signals is dependent upon their ability to dissolve in and freely diffuse through the aqueous solution in which P. aeruginosa happens to reside. Despite this, our data indicated that PQS was relatively insoluble in aqueous solutions, which led us to postulate that P. aeruginosa could be producing a PQS-solubilizing factor. In this report, we show that the P. aeruginosa-produced biosurfactant rhamnolipid greatly enhances the solubility of PQS in aqueous solutions. The enhanced solubility of PQS led to an increase in PQS bioactivity, as measured by both a gene induction assay and an apoptosis assay. This is the first demonstration of the importance of a bacterial surfactant in the solubilization and bioactivity of a cell-to-cell signal.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, East Carolina University School of Medicine, BT 132, 600 Moye Blvd., Greenville, NC 27834. Phone: (252) 744-2351. Fax: (252) 744-3535. E-mail: pescie{at}mail.ecu.edu.

Editor: F. C. Fang

Infection and Immunity, February 2005, p. 878-882, Vol. 73, No. 2
0019-9567/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.73.2.878-882.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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