[Seminar] Quorum sensing control of phage-bacterial interactions

Seminar

Title: Quorum sensing control of phage-bacterial interactions

Speaker: Sine Lo Svenningsen

Affiliation: Institute of Biology, University of Copenhagen

Host: Karina Xavier, Bacterial Signalling Lab
 

Abstract:

The goal of our research is to clarify the role of bacterial cell-cell signaling, called quorum sensing, in shaping the interactions between bacteria and the viruses that prey on them, bacteriophages. Bacteriophages have evolved to incorporate sensory inputs into the genetic switches that influence their infection strategies. As bacterial cell-cell signaling provides clues about the density of potential host cells, prophages could benefit from ‘eavesdropping’ on the signals received by the host cell they reside in, to produce and release progeny phages specifically when new host cells are abundant. Conversely, as the risk of phage infection increases with increased bacterial density, bacteria could be expected to use cell-cell signaling to tie the regulation of their anti-phage defense mechanisms to the cell density of their population. I will present evidence for the latter hypothesis for the model system of Escherichia coli K-12 and two coliphages, λ and χ.