ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2018, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (2): 223-230.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2018.02.001

Previous Articles     Next Articles

LuxS/AI-2 System of Streptococcus suis

WANG Yu-xin1, WANG Yang1*, YI Li2, LU Cheng-ping3   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, China;
    2. College of Life Science, Luoyang Normal University, Luoyang 471022, China;
    3. Key Lab of Animal Bacteriology of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
  • Received:2017-06-22 Online:2018-02-23 Published:2018-02-23

Abstract:

Quorum sensing (QS) system is a microbial cell-to-cell communication process that can influence the transcriptional expression of multiple genes by one or more signaling molecules to coordinate the population response of multiple bacterial pathogens. It relies on the production and detection of chemical signals called autoinducers to monitor cell density and species complexity in the population. The system includes a variety of types, which LuxS/AI-2 type is one of the hottest types, luxS as a highly conserved gene, involved in the regulation of a variety of gene expression, thereby regulating the growth and virulence of bacteria and other life activities, to adapt to different environments. LuxS protein cleaves S-ribosylhomocysteine to form homocysteine and 4, 5-dihydroxy-2, 3-pentanedione (DPD) which is then spontaneously cyclized to form AI-2. Streptococcus suis (SS) is a major swine pathogen and an emerging zoonotic agent of human meningitis and streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome. It is of great significance to study the SS LuxS/AI-2 system and uses LuxS/AI-2 system to prevent and treat SS disease. This review focuses on the general mechanism of QS system in SS, the discovery, structure, metabolism, expression and regulation of LuxS/AI-2.

CLC Number: