↓ Skip to main content

The LuxS/AI-2 Quorum-Sensing System of Streptococcus pneumoniae Is Required to Cause Disease, and to Regulate Virulence- and Metabolism-Related Genes in a Rat Model of Middle Ear Infection

Overview of attention for article published in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, May 2018
Altmetric Badge

About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (77th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (85th percentile)

Mentioned by

twitter
12 X users

Citations

dimensions_citation
46 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
63 Mendeley
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
The LuxS/AI-2 Quorum-Sensing System of Streptococcus pneumoniae Is Required to Cause Disease, and to Regulate Virulence- and Metabolism-Related Genes in a Rat Model of Middle Ear Infection
Published in
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, May 2018
DOI 10.3389/fcimb.2018.00138
Pubmed ID
Authors

Mukesh K. Yadav, Jorge E. Vidal, Yoon Y. Go, Shin H. Kim, Sung-Won Chae, Jae-Jun Song

Abstract

Objective:Streptococcus pneumoniae colonizes the nasopharynx of children, and from nasopharynx it could migrate to the middle ear and causes acute otitis media (AOM). During colonization and AOM, the pneumococcus forms biofilms. In vitro biofilm formation requires a functional LuxS/AI-2 quorum-sensing system. We investigated the role of LuxS/AI-2 signaling in pneumococcal middle ear infection, and identified the genes that are regulated by LuxS/AI-2 during pneumococcal biofilm formation. Methods:Streptococcus pneumoniae D39 wild-type and an isogenic D39ΔluxS strain were utilized to evaluate in vitro biofilm formation, and in vivo colonization and epithelial damage using a microtiter plate assay and a rat model of pneumococcal middle ear infection, respectively. Biofilm structures and colonization and epithelial damage were evaluated at the ultrastructural level by scanning electron microscopy and confocal microscopy. Microarrays were used to investigate the global genes that were regulated by LuxS/AI-2 during biofilm formation. Results: The biofilm biomass and density of D39ΔluxS were significantly (p < 0.05) lower than those of D39 wild-type. SEM and confocal microscopy revealed that D39ΔluxS formed thin biofilms in vitro compared with D39 wild-type. The in vivo model of middle ear infection showed that D39ΔluxS resulted in ~60% less (p < 0.05) bacterial colonization than the wild-type. SEM analysis of the rat middle ears revealed dense biofilm-like cell debris deposited on the cilia in wild-type D39-infected rats. However, little cell debris was deposited in the middle ears of the D39ΔluxS-inoculated rats, and the cilia were visible. cDNA-microarray analysis revealed 117 differentially expressed genes in D39ΔluxS compared with D39 wild-type. Among the 66 genes encoding putative proteins and previously characterized proteins, 60 were significantly downregulated, whereas 6 were upregulated. Functional annotation revealed that genes involved in DNA replication and repair, ATP synthesis, capsule biosynthesis, cell division, the cell cycle, signal transduction, transcription regulation, competence, virulence, and carbohydrate metabolism were downregulated in the absence of LuxS/AI-2. Conclusion: The S. pneumoniae LuxS/AI-2 quorum-sensing system is necessary for biofilm formation and the colonization of the ear epithelium, and caused middle ear infection in the rat model. LuxS/AI-2 regulates the expression of the genes involved in virulence and bacterial fitness during pneumococcal biofilm formation.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 12 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 63 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 63 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 11 17%
Researcher 10 16%
Student > Bachelor 10 16%
Student > Master 3 5%
Student > Doctoral Student 2 3%
Other 6 10%
Unknown 21 33%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 11 17%
Immunology and Microbiology 10 16%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 7 11%
Medicine and Dentistry 5 8%
Engineering 2 3%
Other 5 8%
Unknown 23 37%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 7. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 22 May 2018.
All research outputs
#3,815,526
of 23,577,654 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology
#760
of 6,876 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#73,625
of 327,898 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology
#16
of 107 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,577,654 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 83rd percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 6,876 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.7. This one has done well, scoring higher than 88% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 327,898 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 77% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 107 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 85% of its contemporaries.