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Gaussia Luciferase as a Reporter for Quorum Sensing in Staphylococcus aureus
Isobel Blower1, Carmen Tong1,2, Xiaohui Sun2,3
1School of Life Sciences, Biodiscovery Institute, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.
Abstract:
Gaussia luciferase (GLuc) is a secreted protein with significant potential for use as a reporter of gene expression in bacterial pathogenicity studies. To date there are relatively few examples of its use in bacteriology. In this study we show that GLuc can be functionally expressed in the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus and furthermore show that it can be used as a biosensor for the agr quorum sensing (QS) system which employs autoinducing peptides to control virulence. GLuc was linked to the P3 promoter of the S. aureusagr operon. Biosensor strains were validated by evaluation of chemical agent-mediated activation and inhibition of agr. Use of GLuc enabled quantitative assessment of agr activity. This demonstrates the utility of Gaussia luciferase for in vitro monitoring of agr activation and inhibition.
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