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Infect. Immun. doi:10.1128/IAI.01190-06
Copyright (c) 2006, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Temporal quorum sensing induction regulates Vibrio cholerae biofilm architecture

Department of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: junzhu{at}mail.med.upenn.edu.

	Abstract

Vibrio cholerae, the pathogen that causes cholera, also survives in aqueous reservoirs, probably in the form of biofilms. Quorum sensing negatively regulates V. cholerae biofilm formation through HapR, whose expression is induced at high cell density. In this study we show that the concentration of the quorum sensing signal molecule CAI-1 is higher in biofilms than in planktonic cultures. By measuring hapR expression and activity, we found that induction of quorum sensing in biofilm-associated cells occurs earlier. We further demonstrate that the timing of hapR expression is crucial for biofilm thickness, biofilm detachment rates, and intestinal colonization efficiency. These results suggest that V. cholerae is able to regulate its biofilm architecture by temporal induction of quorum sensing systems.

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