Transcription analysis of AI-2 signal add in experiment in Yersinia pestis CO92 at 37°C. Yersinia pestis

Yersinia pestis, the etiological agent of plague, is able to sense cell density by quorum sensing. The function of quorum sensing in Y. pestis is not clear. Here, the process of autoinducer-2 (AI-2) quorum sensing was investigated by comparing transcript profiles when AI-2 quorum-sensing signal is added in. The strain ∆pgm(pigmentation-negative) mutant R88 was used as wild type. The control consisted of cells grown and treated under the same conditions without added signals. Overall design: Six independent RNA samples from Y. pestis CO92 ∆pgm cultures were paired with six independent RNA samples from AI-2 signal added cultures for hybridization to six two-color microarrays. A dye-swap design was used to remove the Cy5 and Cy3 dye bias.

鼠疫耶尔森菌（Yersinia pestis）是鼠疫的病原菌，可通过群体感应（quorum sensing）感知细胞密度。目前群体感应在鼠疫耶尔森菌中的功能尚未明确。本研究通过对比添加自体诱导物-2（AI-2）群体感应信号分子后的转录表达谱与对照组的差异，探究了AI-2介导的群体感应调控过程。实验以Δpgm（色素阴性）突变株R88作为野生型菌株，对照组为在相同培养与处理条件下未添加信号分子的菌体。实验整体设计如下：取6份独立的鼠疫耶尔森菌CO92 Δpgm培养物的RNA样本，与6份独立的添加AI-2信号分子的培养物的RNA样本配对，用于6张双色微阵列的杂交实验；同时采用染料交换（dye-swap）设计以消除Cy5与Cy3染料的荧光偏倚。