ABSTRACT
Quorum sensing and chemotaxis both affect bacterial behavior on the population level. Chemotaxis shapes the spatial distribution of cells, while quorum sensing realizes a cell-density dependent gene regulation. An interesting question is if these mechanisms interact on some level: Does quorum sensing, a density dependent process, affect cell density itself via chemotaxis? Since quorum sensing often spans across species, such a feedback mechanism may also exist between multiple species. We constructed a microfluidic platform to study these questions. A flow-free, stable linear chemical gradient is formed in our device within a few minutes that makes it suitable for sensitive testing of chemoeffectors: we showed that the amino acid lysine is a weak chemoattractant for Escherichia coli, while arginine is neutral. We studied the effect of quorum sensing signal molecules of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on E. coli chemotaxis. Our results show that N-(3-oxododecanoyl)-homoserine lactone (oxo-C12-HSL) and N-(butryl)-homoserine lactone (C4-HSL) are attractants. Furthermore, we tested the chemoeffector potential of pyocyanin and pyoverdine, secondary metabolites under a quorum sensing control. Pyocyanin is proved to be a weak attractant while pyoverdine are repellent. We demonstrated the usability of the device in co-culturing experiments, where we showed that various factors released by P. aeruginosa affect the dynamic spatial rearrangement of a neighboring E. coli population, while surface adhesion of the cells is also modulated.