Boron Derivatives Accelerate Biofilm Formation of Recombinant Escherichia coli via Increasing Quorum Sensing System Autoinducer-2 Activity

Boron is an essential element for autoinducer-2 (AI-2) synthesis of quorum sensing (QS) system, which affects bacterial collective behavior. As a living biocatalyst, biofilms can stably catalyze the activity of intracellular enzymes. However, it is unclear how boron affects biofilm formation in E. c...

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Published in:International journal of molecular sciences 2022-07, Vol.23 (15), p.8059
Main Authors: Chen, Huan, Yan, Cheng-Hai, Zhan, Yu-Fan, Geng, Li-Tian, Zhu, Lin-Lin, Gong, Lu-Chan, Wang, Jun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
autoinducer-2
Bacteria
Bacteria - metabolism
Bacterial Proteins - metabolism
biofilm
Biofilms
Biomass
Boron
Cell signaling
E coli
Enzymes
Escherichia coli - metabolism
extracellular polymeric substances
Extracellular polymers
Flagella
Gene expression
Genes
Homoserine - pharmacology
Industrial production
Intracellular
Lactones - metabolism
Lactones - pharmacology
Polysaccharides
Quorum sensing
Quorum Sensing - genetics
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Summary:Boron is an essential element for autoinducer-2 (AI-2) synthesis of quorum sensing (QS) system, which affects bacterial collective behavior. As a living biocatalyst, biofilms can stably catalyze the activity of intracellular enzymes. However, it is unclear how boron affects biofilm formation in E. coli, particularly recombinant E. coli with intracellular enzymes. This study screened different boron derivatives to explore their effect on biofilm formation. The stress response of biofilm formation to boron was illuminated by analyzing AI-2 activity, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) composition, gene expression levels, etc. Results showed that boron derivatives promote AI-2 activity in QS system. After treatment with H3BO3 (0.6 mM), the AI-2 activity increased by 65.99%, while boron derivatives increased the biomass biofilms in the order H3BO3 > NaBO2 > Na2B4O7 > NaBO3. Moreover, treatment with H3BO3 (0.6 mM) increased biomass by 88.54%. Meanwhile, AI-2 activity had a linear correlation with polysaccharides and protein of EPS at 0−0.6 mM H3BO3 and NaBO2 (R2 > 0.8). Furthermore, H3BO3 upregulated the expression levels of biofilm formation genes, quorum sensing genes, and flagellar movement genes. These findings demonstrated that boron promoted biofilm formation by upregulating the expression levels of biofilm-related genes, improving the QS system AI-2 activity, and increasing EPS secretion in E. coli.
ISSN:1422-0067
1661-6596
1422-0067
DOI:10.3390/ijms23158059