Acyl-homoserine-lactones receptor LuxR of Shewanella baltica involved in the development of microbiota and spoilage of refrigerated shrimp.

Numerous bacterial species utilize quorum sensing molecules acyl-homoserine-lactones (AHLs) to communicate, however, crosstalk often complicates the dynamics and behaviors of mixed populations. In this study, we developed a luxR mutant of wild type Shewanella baltica SA03 (WT SA03), and aimed to investigate the role of S. baltica LuxR (AHLs receptor) involved in the spoilage of refrigerated shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) by inoculating WT SA03 and luxR mutant of S. baltica SA03 (ΔluxR SA03), respectively. The results indicated the maximum growth rate of total viable bacteria in shrimp inoculated with ΔluxR SA03 was 73.34% lower than that of WT SA03. The lag time of total bacteria in shrimp treated with ΔluxR SA03 were 87.6 h, significantly longer than that of WT SA03. Meanwhile, the total volatile basic nitrogen concentrations of shrimp treated with WT SA03 were significantly higher than that of ΔluxR SA03 after 2 days of storage, which were in agreement with the decrease of the content of AHLs of the shrimp. The results indicated S. baltica might utilize AHLs produced by other bacteria and accelerate the shrimp spoilage process through LuxR receptor system.