The present invention relates to the discovery of the lsr operon, the genes therein, and the polypeptides encoded by these genes. The present invention also includes strains with altered expression levels of the polypeptides encoded by the genes and the lsr operon relative to wild type cells. In some embodiments, the strains express a transporter that transports an autoinducer into the cell at a level higher than that of wild type cells. The present invention also includes methods for identifying compounds that modulate the transport of the autoinducer into cells.
Compositions and methods for regulating bacterial pathogenesis
申请人:——
公开号:US20020107364A1
公开(公告)日:2002-08-08
The production of a purified extracellular bacterial signal called autoinducer-2 is regulated by changes in environmental conditions associated with a shift from a free-living existence to a colonizing or pathogenic existence in a host organism. Autoinducer-2 stimulates LuxQ luminescence genes, and is believed also to stimulate a variety of pathogenesis related genes in the bacterial species that produce it. A new class of bacterial genes is involved in the biosynthesis of autoinducer-2.