Functionality of Borrelia burgdorferi LuxS: The Lyme disease spirochete produces and responds to the pheromone autoinducer-2 and lacks a complete activated-methyl cycle

Kate von Lackum; Kelly Babb; Sean P. Riley; Rachel L. Wattier; Tomasz Bykowski; Brian Stevenson

doi:10.1016/j.ijmm.2005.12.011

Functionality of Borrelia burgdorferi LuxS: The Lyme disease spirochete produces and responds to the pheromone autoinducer-2 and lacks a complete activated-methyl cycle

Kate von Lackum, Kelly Babb, Sean P. Riley, Rachel L. Wattier, Tomasz Bykowski, Brian Stevenson

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Borrelia burgdorferi produces Pfs and LuxS enzymes for breakdown of the toxic byproducts of methylation reactions, producing 4,5-dihydroxy-2,3-pentanedione (DPD), adenine, and homocysteine. DPD and its spontaneously rearranged derivatives constitute a class of bacterial pheromones named autoinducer-2 (AI-2). We describe that B. burgdorferi produces DPD during laboratory cultivation. Furthermore, addition of in vitro synthesized DPD to cultured B. burgdorferi resulted in altered expression levels of a specific set of bacterial proteins, among which is the outer surface lipoprotein VlsE. While a large number of bacteria utilize homocysteine, the other LuxS product, for synthesis of methionine as part of the activated-methyl cycle, B. burgdorferi was found to lack that ability. We propose that the main function of B. burgdorferi LuxS is to synthesize DPD and that the Lyme disease spirochete utilizes a form of DPD as a pheromone to control gene expression.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	92-102
Number of pages	11
Journal	International Journal of Medical Microbiology
Volume	296
Issue number	SUPPL. 1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmm.2005.12.011
State	Published - May 22 2006

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants R01-AI53101 and 5T32-AI49795. We thank Bonnie Bassler, Michael Norgard, George Stauffer, and Xiaofeng Yang for providing bacterial strains; Tom Schwan for sharing unpublished results; Bonnie Bassler, Kenneth Cornell, Klaus Winzer, and Wolfram Zückert for helpful discussions; Sarah Wackerbarth for statistical analyses; and Sara Bair, Sarah Kearns, Natalie Mickelsen, Jennifer Miller, Ashutosh Verma, and Michael Woodman for assistance in this research.

Funding

This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants R01-AI53101 and 5T32-AI49795. We thank Bonnie Bassler, Michael Norgard, George Stauffer, and Xiaofeng Yang for providing bacterial strains; Tom Schwan for sharing unpublished results; Bonnie Bassler, Kenneth Cornell, Klaus Winzer, and Wolfram Zückert for helpful discussions; Sarah Wackerbarth for statistical analyses; and Sara Bair, Sarah Kearns, Natalie Mickelsen, Jennifer Miller, Ashutosh Verma, and Michael Woodman for assistance in this research.

Funders	Funder number
National Institutes of Health (NIH)	R01-AI53101
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases	T32AI049795

Keywords

Bacterial gene regulation
Borrelia burgdorferi
Homocysteine
Methionine
Pheromone
Quorum sensing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Microbiology
Microbiology (medical)
Infectious Diseases

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.ijmm.2005.12.011

Cite this

von Lackum, K., Babb, K., Riley, S. P., Wattier, R. L., Bykowski, T., & Stevenson, B. (2006). Functionality of Borrelia burgdorferi LuxS: The Lyme disease spirochete produces and responds to the pheromone autoinducer-2 and lacks a complete activated-methyl cycle. International Journal of Medical Microbiology, 296(SUPPL. 1), 92-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmm.2005.12.011

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title = "Functionality of Borrelia burgdorferi LuxS: The Lyme disease spirochete produces and responds to the pheromone autoinducer-2 and lacks a complete activated-methyl cycle",

abstract = "Borrelia burgdorferi produces Pfs and LuxS enzymes for breakdown of the toxic byproducts of methylation reactions, producing 4,5-dihydroxy-2,3-pentanedione (DPD), adenine, and homocysteine. DPD and its spontaneously rearranged derivatives constitute a class of bacterial pheromones named autoinducer-2 (AI-2). We describe that B. burgdorferi produces DPD during laboratory cultivation. Furthermore, addition of in vitro synthesized DPD to cultured B. burgdorferi resulted in altered expression levels of a specific set of bacterial proteins, among which is the outer surface lipoprotein VlsE. While a large number of bacteria utilize homocysteine, the other LuxS product, for synthesis of methionine as part of the activated-methyl cycle, B. burgdorferi was found to lack that ability. We propose that the main function of B. burgdorferi LuxS is to synthesize DPD and that the Lyme disease spirochete utilizes a form of DPD as a pheromone to control gene expression.",

keywords = "Bacterial gene regulation, Borrelia burgdorferi, Homocysteine, Methionine, Pheromone, Quorum sensing",

author = "\{von Lackum\}, Kate and Kelly Babb and Riley, \{Sean P.\} and Wattier, \{Rachel L.\} and Tomasz Bykowski and Brian Stevenson",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants R01-AI53101 and 5T32-AI49795. We thank Bonnie Bassler, Michael Norgard, George Stauffer, and Xiaofeng Yang for providing bacterial strains; Tom Schwan for sharing unpublished results; Bonnie Bassler, Kenneth Cornell, Klaus Winzer, and Wolfram Z{\"u}ckert for helpful discussions; Sarah Wackerbarth for statistical analyses; and Sara Bair, Sarah Kearns, Natalie Mickelsen, Jennifer Miller, Ashutosh Verma, and Michael Woodman for assistance in this research.",

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von Lackum, K, Babb, K, Riley, SP, Wattier, RL, Bykowski, T & Stevenson, B 2006, 'Functionality of Borrelia burgdorferi LuxS: The Lyme disease spirochete produces and responds to the pheromone autoinducer-2 and lacks a complete activated-methyl cycle', International Journal of Medical Microbiology, vol. 296, no. SUPPL. 1, pp. 92-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmm.2005.12.011

Functionality of Borrelia burgdorferi LuxS: The Lyme disease spirochete produces and responds to the pheromone autoinducer-2 and lacks a complete activated-methyl cycle. / von Lackum, Kate; Babb, Kelly; Riley, Sean P. et al.
In: International Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol. 296, No. SUPPL. 1, 22.05.2006, p. 92-102.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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T1 - Functionality of Borrelia burgdorferi LuxS

T2 - The Lyme disease spirochete produces and responds to the pheromone autoinducer-2 and lacks a complete activated-methyl cycle

AU - von Lackum, Kate

AU - Babb, Kelly

AU - Riley, Sean P.

AU - Wattier, Rachel L.

AU - Bykowski, Tomasz

AU - Stevenson, Brian

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants R01-AI53101 and 5T32-AI49795. We thank Bonnie Bassler, Michael Norgard, George Stauffer, and Xiaofeng Yang for providing bacterial strains; Tom Schwan for sharing unpublished results; Bonnie Bassler, Kenneth Cornell, Klaus Winzer, and Wolfram Zückert for helpful discussions; Sarah Wackerbarth for statistical analyses; and Sara Bair, Sarah Kearns, Natalie Mickelsen, Jennifer Miller, Ashutosh Verma, and Michael Woodman for assistance in this research.

PY - 2006/5/22

Y1 - 2006/5/22

N2 - Borrelia burgdorferi produces Pfs and LuxS enzymes for breakdown of the toxic byproducts of methylation reactions, producing 4,5-dihydroxy-2,3-pentanedione (DPD), adenine, and homocysteine. DPD and its spontaneously rearranged derivatives constitute a class of bacterial pheromones named autoinducer-2 (AI-2). We describe that B. burgdorferi produces DPD during laboratory cultivation. Furthermore, addition of in vitro synthesized DPD to cultured B. burgdorferi resulted in altered expression levels of a specific set of bacterial proteins, among which is the outer surface lipoprotein VlsE. While a large number of bacteria utilize homocysteine, the other LuxS product, for synthesis of methionine as part of the activated-methyl cycle, B. burgdorferi was found to lack that ability. We propose that the main function of B. burgdorferi LuxS is to synthesize DPD and that the Lyme disease spirochete utilizes a form of DPD as a pheromone to control gene expression.

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KW - Bacterial gene regulation

KW - Borrelia burgdorferi

KW - Homocysteine

KW - Methionine

KW - Pheromone

KW - Quorum sensing

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SN - 1438-4221

VL - 296

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JO - International Journal of Medical Microbiology

JF - International Journal of Medical Microbiology

IS - SUPPL. 1

ER -

Functionality of Borrelia burgdorferi LuxS: The Lyme disease spirochete produces and responds to the pheromone autoinducer-2 and lacks a complete activated-methyl cycle

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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