PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Sampriti Mukherjee
AU  - Matthew Jemielita
AU  - Vasiliki Stergioula
AU  - Mikhail Tikhonov
AU  - Bonnie L. Bassler
TI  - Photo sensing and quorum sensing are integrated to control bacterial group behaviors
AID  - 10.1101/747618
DP  - 2019 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 747618
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/08/28/747618.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/08/28/747618.full
AB  - Pseudomonas aeruginosa transitions between the free-swimming state and the sessile biofilm mode during its pathogenic lifestyle. We show that quorum sensing represses P. aeruginosa biofilm formation and virulence by activating expression of genes encoding the KinB-AlgB two-component system. Phospho-AlgB represses biofilm and virulence genes, while KinB dephosphorylates, and thereby, inactivates AlgB. We discover that the photoreceptor BphP is the kinase that, in response to light, phosphorylates and activates AlgB. Indeed, exposing P. aeruginosa to light represses biofilm formation and virulence gene expression. To our knowledge, P. aeruginosa was not previously known to detect light. The KinB-AlgB-BphP module is present in all Pseudomonads, and we demonstrate that AlgB is the cognate response regulator for BphP in diverse bacterial phyla. We propose that KinB-AlgB-BphP constitutes a “three-component” system and AlgB is the node at which varied sensory information is integrated. This study sets the stage for light-mediated control of P. aeruginosa infectivity.