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Regulation of las and rhl Quorum Sensing on Aerobic Denitrification in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1

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Abstract

The bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa negatively regulates denitrification under anerobic conditions by two acyl-homoserine lactone quorum-sensing (QS) systems called las and rhl. However, it is unknown whether these systems have the same effect on denitrification in aerobic conditions. In this study, we investigated the regulation of las and rhl systems on aerobic denitrification. We showed that the removal of nitrate in P. aeruginosa PAO1 was repressed by both the las and rhl systems. The las and rhl systems had negative effects on activities of denitrifying enzymes NAP, NIR, NOR, and NOS. At the level of transcription, both QS systems inhibited the expression of target genes napA, nirS, norB, norC, and nosZ. Furthermore, the addition of an acylase, which degrades the acyl-homoserine lactone signals (AHLs), to wild type resulted in an increase in the removal of nitrate. Additionally, in aerobic denitrification process, the transcription factor DNR, which controls denitrification, was repressed by both QS systems. The results implied that modulation of QS in denitrifying bacteria, possibly through quorum quenching or QS inhibition, could help to improve the reduction of nitrate in wastewater treatment.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Ajai A. Dandekar from University of Washington Medical Center for providing us with the strains and for language editing on this manuscript.

Funding

This study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (Grant Nos. LY17E080001 and LQ18E080005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, 310012, People’s Republic of China

    Xueyan Cui, Xinyi Ruan, Jun Yin, Meizhen Wang, Na Li & Dongsheng Shen

  2. Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Recycling, Hangzhou, 310012, People’s Republic of China

    Xueyan Cui, Xinyi Ruan, Jun Yin, Meizhen Wang, Na Li & Dongsheng Shen

  3. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, 310012, China

    Jun Yin

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Contributions

XC: Acquisition of data, Analysis and interpretation of data, and Drafting of manuscript. XR: Acquisition of data and Analysis and interpretation of data. JY: Study conception and design, Analysis and interpretation of data, and Critical revision. MW: Study conception and design and Critical revision. NL: Analysis and interpretation of data. DS: Study conception and design.

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Correspondence to Jun Yin.

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Cui, X., Ruan, X., Yin, J. et al. Regulation of las and rhl Quorum Sensing on Aerobic Denitrification in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. Curr Microbiol 78, 659–667 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-020-02338-z

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