Characterization of Autoinducer-3 Structure and Biosynthesis in <i>E. coli</i>
Chung Sub Kim, Alexandra Gatsios, Santiago Cuesta, Yick Chong Lam, Zheng Wei, Haiwei Chen, Regan M. Russell, Emilee E. Shine, Rurun Wang, Thomas P. Wyche, Grazia Piizzi, Richard A. Flavell, Noah W. Palm, Vanessa Sperandio, Jason M. Crawford
Abstract
(EHEC). We demonstrate that novel AI-3 analogs are derived from threonine dehydrogenase (Tdh) products and "abortive" tRNA synthetase reactions, and they are distributed across a variety of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial pathogens. In addition to regulating virulence genes in EHEC, we show that the metabolites exert diverse immunological effects on primary human tissues. The discovery of AI-3 metabolites and their biochemical origins now provides a molecular foundation for investigating the diverse biological roles of these elusive yet widely distributed bacterial signaling molecules.