Chemotaxis of the Human Pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa to the Neurotransmitter Acetylcholine
Miguel A. Matilla, Félix Velando, Ana Tajuelo, David Martín‐Mora, Wenhao Xu, Victor Sourjik, José A. Gavira, Tino Krell
Abstract
P. aeruginosa causes a significant number of deaths annually worldwide. For many pathogens, chemotaxis plays an import role in the initial stages of infection, and deciphering the key chomoeffectors and their cognate chemoreceptors may permit the development of strategies to inhibit this process. Genome analyses have shown that many bacteria possess a large number of chemoreceptors. The chemoeffectors recognized by the large majority of chemoreceptors are unknown. However, identifying these chemoeffectors is crucial for deciphering the evolutionary forces that have shaped chemosensory signaling mechanisms in bacteria with different lifestyles. Our current understanding of the relationship between bacterial lifestyle and chemoreceptor repertoire is limited, and this work contributes to closing this gap in our knowledge. By expanding the list of known chemoeffectors and chemoreceptors, progress is made toward identifying functional receptor homologs in other bacteria.