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Science 24 December 2004:
Vol. 306. no. 5705, p. 2160
DOI: 10.1126/science.306.5705.2160d
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Figure 2 Highly virulent enterococcal strains possess a pathogenicity island within their genome that encodes, among other traits, a cytolytic toxin that uses a quorum-sensing mechanism to affect autoinduction. Coburn et al. (p. 2270; see the Perspective by Garsin) show that the bacterium actively secretes two components, an autoinducer and an anti-autoinducer. In the absence of target cells, these two interact and prevent the autoinducer from feeding back to induce high-level expression of the cytolysin. In the presence of the target cell, however, the anti-autoinducer binds to the target cell and allows the autoinducer to accumulate to the threshold level required for quorum induction of the cytolysin operon. The anti-autoinducer is itself a toxin component and effectively tags the target for destruction.

CREDIT: COBURN ET AL.




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