Wiley Encyclopaedia of Chemical Biology

Chemical Molecules that Regulate Transcription and Facilitate Cell-to-Cell Communication

This webpage constitutes the supplementary material for the following publication:

Arthur Wuster and M. Madan Babu (2007) Chemical Molecules that Regulate Transcription and Facilitate Cell-to-Cell Communication in Wiley Encyclopaedia of Chemical Biology (in press).

This page contain an overview of the topics covered in the encyclopaedia as well as some of the best review articles cited in the text. This page is sorted by signalling system in the case of bacteria or by taxon (yeast or Dictyostelium) in the case of eukaryotes.

XLS qs_pdbs.xls

This Excel spreadsheet lists Protein Data Bank (PDB) macromolecular structure entries of proteins which are involved in quorum sensing. This includes synthases, receptors, response regulators, and quorum quenching enzymes from the AI-1, the AI-2, and the gamma-butyrolacetone systems. The spreadsheet also lists the Pfam protein domain assignments for each PDB entry.

1. contents

1. top
2. bacteria

2.1. acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs)
2.2. peptides
2.3. gamma-butyrolacetones
2.4. AI-2

3. eukaryotes

3.1. fungi
3.2. Dictyostelium

2. bacteria

Although bacteria are commonly seen as unicellular organisms, it is more and more transpiring that there are surprisingly sophisticated cell-cell signalling mechanisms in place in most, if not all, bacterial species. They often take the form of a cell-density sensing system, where signalling molecules are excreted into the environment, so that the the concentration of the signals grows with growing population density. This signalling system is also termed quorum sensing. Well-studied quorum sensing systems use acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) or processed peptides as signals, but there are other signalling molecules too. Apart from systems which do not require direct cell-cell contact there are other systems in place which do (see review by Bassler and Losick (2006)).

See Wired 11.04 (April 2003) for a more light-hearted article about the past and future of quorum sensing.

PDF Bassler and Losick 2006.pdf
This paper gives an excellent overview of bacterial cell-cell signalling which is not limited to quorum sensing. It is an excellent introduction to AHLs, peptide signals, AI-2, A-factor, PQS, C-factor, etc. Its Conclusions section is particularly thought-provoking.

PDF Camilli_and_Bassler_2006.pdf
This review concentrates not only on inter- but also on intracellular signalling (second section). Particularly the possible link between cdiGMP signalling, the starvation signal ppGpp and quorum sensing is interesting.

2.1. acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs)

PDF Zhang_et_al_2002.pdf
This paper describes the structure of the Agrobacterium LuxR homolog TraR, deposited in the Protein Data Bank as 1L3L. It also discusses the likely mode of function of both the AHL-binding N-terminal domain and the DNA-binding C-terminal domain.

PDF Shiner_et_al_2005.pdf
This paper reviews the the cross-talk between eukaryotes and bacteria via the common language of AHLs. Focusing mainly on Pseudomonas aeruginosa it goes into particular detail about how AHLs can influence eukaryotic transcription, and how eukaryotes mimick AHLs. It also shortly discusses how adrenaline and noradrenaline can interfere with AI-2 signalling.

PDF Lazdunski_et_al_2004.pdf
Although this review also discusses other forms of quorum sensing, it mainly focuses on AI-1. It also covers the topic quorum sensing and microbial ecology.

2.2. peptides

PDF Sturme_et_al_2002.pdf
The title of this review is Cell to cell communication by autoinducing peptides in gram-positive bacteria, anf this is exactly what it discusses. It also talks about the impact of genomics on quorum sensing studies, and about novel PCR-based approaches to detect quorum sensing molecules.

2.3. gamma-butyrolacetones

Takano_2006.pdf
This detailed review discusses gamma-butyrolacetone signalling in Steptococcus, including synthesis, receptors, and signalling cascades.

2.4. AI-2

PDF Chen_et_al_2002.pdf
This paper describes the structure of LuxP, the periplasmic protein binding AI-2, and its substrate furanosyl borate diester. It also discusses the putative pathway for the synthesis of the AI-2 precursor DPD, and, most importantly, the structure of furanosyl borate diester itself. The structure described by Chen et al. has been deposited in the Protein Data Bank as 1JX6.

3. eukaryotes

This section is about cell-cell communication in two groups which would not normally be described as multicellular, i. e. yeast and Dictyostelium. If you are interested in the interaction between eukaryotes and (pathogenic) bacteria via quorum sensing molecules such as AHLs or AI-2 please see section bacteria.

3.1. fungi

Chen_and_Fink_2006.pdf
This research paper is about the discovery that Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells can respond to conditions such as cell density or nitrogen starvation using aromatic alcohols as quorum sensing molecules.

PDF Nickerson_et_al_2006.pdf
This paper reviews the role farnesol has as a quorum sensing molecule in Candida albicans and hypothesises about the gene regulation interactions leading to its regulation of hyphae-specific genes.

3.2. Dictyostelium

Williams_2006.pdf
This paper gives an introduction to cell-cell signalling in Dictyostelium during development, discussing e.g. the mode of function of DIF-1.

Last update: 02 May 2007