CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 387Bacterial biofilms and quorum sensingBacterial Genetics and Biotechnologybioluminescence and chemiluminescence research

The bacterial ’enigma’: cracking the code of cell-cell communication

Salmond, G. P. C., Bycroft, B. W., Stewart, G. S. A. B., Williams, P.·1995·Molecular Microbiology
DOI 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1995.tb02424.x
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

In recent years it has become clear that the production of N-acyl homoserine lactones (N-AHLs) is widespread in Gram-negative bacteria. These molecules act as diffusible chemical communication signals (bacterial pheromones) which regulate diverse physiological processes including bioluminescence, antibiotic production, plasmid conjugal transfer and synthesis of exoenzyme virulence factors in plant and animal pathogens. The paradigm for N-AHL production is in the bioluminescence (lux) phenotype of Photobacterium fischeri (formerly classified as Vibrio fischeri) where the signalling molecule N-(3-oxohexanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone (OHHL) is synthesized by the action of the LuxI protein. OHHL is thought to bind to the LuxR protein, allowing it to act as a positive transcriptional activator in an autoinduction process that physiologically couples cell density (and growth phase) to the expression of the bioluminescence genes. Based on the growing information on LuxI and LuxR homologues in other N-AHL-producing bacterial species such as Erwinia carotovora, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Yersinia enterocolitica, Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Rhizobium leguminosarum, it seems that analogues of the P. fischeri lux autoinducer sensing system are widely distributed in bacteria. The general physiological function of these simple chemical signalling systems appears to be the modulation of discrete and diverse metabolic processes in concert with cell density. In an evolutionary sense, the elaboration and action of these bacterial pheromones can be viewed as an example of multicellularity in prokaryotic populations.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1995.tb02424.x

Cites

62 of 62 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • This difference in cell density at similar OD is important to consider when performing experiments that depend on the number of cellular divisions or cells present, such as cellular communication, antibiotic susceptibility, and biofilms.

    “This difference is important to consider when performing experiments that depend on the number of cellular divisions or cells present, such as cellular communication [12, 13] and antibiotic susceptibility [14–17] and biofilms [18].”

    From Estimating microbial population data from optical density (2022) · cites this paper as [13]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Salmond, G. P. C., Bycroft, B. W., Stewart, G. S. A. B., & Williams, P.
Affiliations
  • University of Warwick (GB)
  • University of Nottingham (GB)
Corresponding author
Salmond, G. P. C.
ORCID
Venue
Molecular Microbiology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
1995-05
Volume
16
Issue
4
Pages
615-624
ISSN
  • 0950-382X (ISSN-L)
  • 1365-2958
DOI
10.1111/j.1365-2958.1995.tb02424.x
OpenAlex
W2048767131
Cited by
387
References
62
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 10
FWCI
2.98
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 4197 d)
Locations
  • Molecular Microbiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • University of Warwick
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Bacterial biofilms and quorum sensing
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › bioluminescence and chemiluminescence research
Keywords
N-acyl homoserine lactones, bacterial quorum sensing, intercellular communication, LuxI, LuxR, autoinduction, Vibrio fischeri, bioluminescence, cell density regulation, virulence factor production, Gram-negative bacteria
MeSH terms
Bacteria, Conjugation, Genetic, Genes, Bacterial, Luminescent Measurements, Phenotype, Photobacterium, Plasmids, 4-Butyrolactone, Signal Transduction, Bacterial Physiological Phenomena

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review