Phylogenomics and evolutionary perspective of quorum sensing regulators (LuxI/LuxR) in prokaryotes

Abstract

The quorum sensing (QS) is a well-characterized phenomenon in the microbial world for cellular communication and being exploited for intraspecies, interspecies and even interkingdom interactions. This robust and widely distributed social networking cascade assists the microbes to emerge as strong parasites for the hosts. Moreover, the colonization with more efficient cross talk among the microbes further intensifies their infections. Here, we will be focusing to decipher the evolutionary status of the QS regulators (LuxI and LuxR) in the prokaryotic world. LuxI is a signal synthase, while LuxR is the recipient for sensing internal (cognate LuxR/solos LuxR) and external (solos LuxR) signals. These regulators are reported to evolve vertically as well as borrowed through horizontal gene transfer w.r.t. ecological niche. Their universal distribution in the microbial world further corroborates the need for targeting multiple signaling system regulators.