A bacterial cell–cell communication signal with cross‐kingdom structural analogues
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Open Access
- 16 December 2003
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Molecular Microbiology
- Vol. 51 (3), 903-912
- https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2958.2003.03883.x
Abstract
Extracellular signals are the key components of microbial cell–cell communication systems. This report identified a diffusible signal factor (DSF), which regulates virulence in Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris, as cis-11-methyl-2-dodecenoic acid, an α,β unsaturated fatty acid. Analysis of DSF derivatives established the double bond at the α,β positions as the most important structural feature for DSF biological activity. A range of bacterial pathogens, including several Mycobacterium species, also displayed DSF-like activity. Furthermore, DSF is structurally and functionally related to farnesoic acid (FA), which regulates morphological transition and virulence by Candida albicans, a fungal pathogen. Similar to FA, which is also an α,β unsaturated fatty acid, DSF inhibits the dimorphic transition of C. albicans at a physiologically relevant concentration. We conclude that α,β unsaturated fatty acids represent a new class of extracellular signals for bacterial and fungal cell–cell communications. As prokaryote–eukaryote interactions are ubiquitous, such cross-kingdom conservation in cell–cell communication systems might have significant ecological and economic importance.Keywords
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