QUORUM SENSING AUTOINDUCERS - DO THEY PLAY A ROLE IN NATURAL MICROBIAL HABITATS

N-acylated homoserine lactones (AHL) have been described as gene regul ators at high population densities in a variety of gram-negative bacte ria, a system termed quorum sensing. We demonstrate here that AHLs are also produced in natural accumulations of microorganisms, as found in microbial mars and cyanobacterial blooms, they are detected in a bioa ssay using the AHL dependent synthesis of violacein by a mutant of Chr omobacterium violaceum.