The Legionella autoinducer LAI-1 is delivered by outer membrane vesicles to promote interbacterial and interkingdom signalingShow others and affiliations
2023 (English)In: Journal of Biological Chemistry, ISSN 0021-9258, E-ISSN 1083-351X, Vol. 299, no 12, article id 105376Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Legionella pneumophila is an environmental bacterium, which replicates in amoeba but also in macrophages, and causes a life-threatening pneumonia called Legionnaires’ disease. The opportunistic pathogen employs the α-hydroxy-ketone compound Legionella autoinducer-1 (LAI-1) for intraspecies and interkingdom signaling. LAI-1 is produced by the autoinducer synthase Legionella quorum sensing A (LqsA), but it is not known, how LAI-1 is released by the pathogen. Here, we use a Vibrio cholerae luminescence reporter strain and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to detect bacteria-produced and synthetic LAI-1. Ectopic production of LqsA in Escherichia coli generated LAI-1, which partitions to outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) and increases OMV size. These E. coli OMVs trigger luminescence of the V. cholerae reporter strain and inhibit the migration of Dictyostelium discoideum amoeba. Overexpression of lqsA in L. pneumophila under the control of strong stationary phase promoters (PflaA or P6SRNA), but not under control of its endogenous promoter (PlqsA), produces LAI-1, which is detected in purified OMVs. These L. pneumophila OMVs trigger luminescence of the Vibrio reporter strain and inhibit D. discoideum migration. L. pneumophila OMVs are smaller upon overexpression of lqsA or upon addition of LAI-1 to growing bacteria, and therefore, LqsA affects OMV production. The overexpression of lqsA but not a catalytically inactive mutant promotes intracellular replication of L. pneumophila in macrophages, indicating that intracellularly produced LA1-1 modulates the interaction in favor of the pathogen. Taken together, we provide evidence that L. pneumophila LAI-1 is secreted through OMVs and promotes interbacterial communication and interactions with eukaryotic host cells.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2023. Vol. 299, no 12, article id 105376
Keywords [en]
amoeba, autoinducer, cell-cell communication, Dictyostelium, host-pathogen interaction, interkingdom signaling, Legionella, macrophage, outer membrane vesicle, quorum sensing, α-hydroxyketone
National Category
Microbiology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-217220DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.105376PubMedID: 37866633Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85177064001OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-217220DiVA, id: diva2:1815703
Funder
German Research Foundation (DFG), 417857878Swedish Research Council, 2019-053842023-11-292023-11-292023-11-29Bibliographically approved