[Synthesis of signaling N-acyl-homoserine-lactones participating in quorum sensing in rhizosphere and soil bacteria Pseudomonas and Xanthomonas].

Signaling molecules assigned to N-acyl-homoserine-lactones (AHL) serve as autoinducers for the genes controlling the quorum sensing regulatory system. In many gram-negative bacteria, AHL are the key factors responsible for density-dependent regulation of exoenzyme and secondary metabolite production; they also participate in interaction between bacteria and higher organisms. The soil and rhisosphere bacteria Pseudomonas and Xanthomonas from different geographical zones of Russia and the former USSR were analyzed for the presence of the AHL producers. Screening was conducted by using a test system based on the mutant strain Chromobacterium violaceum, which was unable to synthesize AHL but produced a pigment violacein in the presence of exogenous AHL. The AHL-like compounds proved to be formed by 9.7% of the studied bacteria. Various Pseudomonas species differed in the capacity to synthesize this compounds. In at least a half of the isolated P. aureofaciens and P. aeruginosa, an intense AHL production was observed, whereas the AHL-producers were far less frequent among the P. fluorescens, P. chlororaphis, P. lemonnieri, P. geniculata, and P. putida. None of the 41 Xanthomonas maltophilia strains examined synthesized AHL.