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Updated: Jan 2, 2026

Herbivore-induced Blueberry Volatiles and Intra-plant Signaling
Published on: December 18, 2011
[A new interspecies and interkingdom signaling molecule-Indole]
Yuanyuan Qu1, Chunxiao Dai1, Xuwang Zhang2
1Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (Ministry of Education), School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, Liaoning, China.
Abstract:
Indole, as a typical N-heterocyclic aromatic compound, is widespread in natural environment. A growing number of researches have proved that indole is a new interspecies and interkingdom signal molecule with certain biological activities. Indole could regulate virulence, biofilm formation, antibiotic tolerance and quorum sensing of bacteria. Indole not only modulates plant growth and defense system, but also affects intestinal inflammation, oxidative stress and hormone secretion in animals. Hence indole plays important roles in diverse aspects such as microbial metabolism, human health and plant growth, holding important significance both in biology and ecology. This review presents the history of indole from biological metabolism to signal transmission, the current knowledge on indole as an intercellular and interspecies signal of microorganisms, and interkingdom signal between bacteria and plants or animals. This review will help to explore the biological significant and ecological mechanism of indole metabolic and signal regulation in complex environment.
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