| Quorum sensing (QS) is a cell-to-cell signalling pathway that allows bacteria to synchronize their genetic expression. It is mediated by autoinducers (AI), including (1) acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs or AI-1), produced by Proteobacteria using AinS, LuxI and HdtS synthase families and (2) furanosyl-diester-borate (FDB or AI-2), produced by a large range of phylogenetically diverse bacteria and synthetized by the LuxS family. Few data have been collected about the presence and importance of QS in marine waters using culture independent methods. In this study, we examined the presence and the diversity of AI-1 and AI-2 synthases in the Global Ocean Sampling (GOS), a large metagenomic database, covering 68 stations across 3 oceans. We built 4 reference... |
