Acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) quorum sensing allows population-dependent control of gene expression in numerous bacterial species. Many AHL quorum-sensing systems are known, all of which use fatty acid groups to provide AHL specificity. This paper reports the discovery that some bacteria make a non-fatty AHL by using enzymes related to the fatty AHL synthase pathway, thus greatly expanding the realm of signal possibilities.
- Amy L. Schaefer
- E. P. Greenberg
- Caroline S. Harwood