Quorum Quenching Strains Isolated from the Microbiota of Sea Anemones and Holothurians Attenuate <i>Vibrio</i><i>corallilyticus</i> Virulence Factors and Reduce Mortality in <i>Artemia</i><i>salina</i>
2022
José Carlos Reina | Pedro Pérez | Inmaculada Llamas
Interference with quorum-sensing (QS) intercellular communication systems by the enzymatic disruption of <i>N</i>-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs) in Gram-negative bacteria has become a promising strategy to fight bacterial infections. In this study, seven strains previously isolated from marine invertebrates and selected for their ability to degrade C6 and C10-HSL, were identified as <i>Acinetobacter junii</i>, <i>Ruegeria atlantica</i>, <i>Microbulbifer echini</i>, <i>Reinheimera aquimaris</i>, and <i>Pseudomonas sihuiensis</i>. AHL-degrading activity against a wide range of synthetic AHLs were identified by using an agar well diffusion assay and <i>Agrobacterium tumefaciens</i> NTL4 and <i>Chromobacterium violaceum</i> CV026 and VIR07 as biosensors. High-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) analysis indicated that this activity was not due to an AHL lactonase. All the strains degraded <i>Vibrio coralliilyticus</i> AHLs in coculture experiments, while some strains reduced or abolished the production of virulence factors. In vivo assays showed that strains M3-111 and M3-127 reduced this pathogen’s virulence and increased the survival rate of <i>Artemia salina</i> up to 3-fold, indicating its potential use for biotechnological purposes. To our knowledge, this is the first study to describe AHL-degrading activities in some of these marine species. These findings highlight that the microbiota associated with marine invertebrates constitute an important underexplored source of biological valuable compounds.
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