The Role of Quorum Sensing in Biofilm Development - Antibiofilm Agents: From Diagnosis to Treatment and Prevention - page 98

Table 1 (continued)

QS-regulated,
biofilm-related
process

Implicated QS genes
and/or signals Microorganism References

Sinorhizobium
meliloti

sinI, expR Exopolysaccharide

synthesis

Gao et al. ( 2012 ),
Sorroche et al. ( 2010 )

Staphylococcus
aureus

agr
Endogenous signal: AIP

Negatively regu-
lates attachment
maturation,
dispersal

Reviewed in Otto ( 2013 )

Staphylococcus
epidermidis

agr; luxS Negatively regulate

attachment
maturation;
dispersal

Yao et al. ( 2006 ),
reviewed in Otto
( 2013 ), Xu
et al. ( 2006 )

Streptococcus
gordonii

luxS
Endogenous signal:AI-2

Maturation;
polymicrobial
interactions

Blehert et al. ( 2003 ),
McNab et al. ( 2003 )

Streptococcus mutans luxS

Maturation Merritt et al. ( 2003 ),

Wen and Burne
( 2004 )

Streptococcus
pneumonia

luxS
Endogenous signal:AI-2

Attachment or
microcolony
formation

Vidal et al. ( 2011 )

Vibrio cholera hapR, cqsA Maturation; pro-

motes dispersal

Hammer and Bassler
( 2003 ), Zhu and
Mekalanos ( 2003 )

Vibrio scophthalmi luxS/R Not defined Garcia-Aljaro

et al. ( 2012 )

Vibrio vulnificus smcR Shift to biofilm

phenotype,
maturation

McDougald et al. ( 2001 ,
2006 )

Xanthomonas
campestris

rpfF , rpfC , and rpfG
Endogenous signal: DSF

Dispersal Dow et al. ( 2003 ), Slater

et al. ( 2000 )

Yersinia
pseudotuberculosis

ypsI/R and ytbI/R
Endogenous signals:
multiple AHLs

Not defined Atkinson et al. ( 2011 )

microbe to a surface mediated by pili, flagella, or other surface appendages or
specific receptors; (2) the secretion of exopolymeric material, which results in
irreversible attachment; (3) cell proliferation, resulting in the formation of a
microcolony; (4) growth of the microcolony and differentiation of the biofilm,
culminating in a “mature” biofilm community with characteristic structural features
such as water channels and towering clusters of cells; and (5) active dispersion or
passive detachment of biofilm cells. So at what stages of biofilm formation is QS
important? Collectively, QS has been shown to be important during all five stages
of biofilm development, but the specific QS-controlled stages differ between
microbes, which employ different mechanisms of QS.