Expression of Meiothermus ruber luxS in E.coli alters the antibiotic susceptibility and biofilm formation

In-silico analysis has revealed the presence of autoinducer-2 (AI-2) class of QS signaling molecules in thermophiles, synthesized by LuxS (AI-2 synthase), though the functions of this system are not known. In this study, LuxS of Meiothermus ruber was used for understanding the mechanism and functions of AI-2 based QS among thermophilic bacteria. The luxS gene of M. ruber was expressed in luxS- deletion mutant of E.coli. Complementation of luxS resulted in significant AI-2 activity, enhanced biofilm formation and antibiotic susceptibility. Transcriptome analysis showed significant differential expression of 204 genes between the luxS complemented and luxS- deletion mutant of E.coli.