Abstract
Bacteria produce and release a large diversity of small molecules including organic and inorganic volatile compounds, hereafter referred to as bacterial volatile compounds (BVCs). Whereas BVCs were often only considered as wasted metabolic by-product sometimes perceived by animal olfactory systems, it is increasingly clear that they can also mediate cross-kingdom interactions with fungi, plants and animals. Recently, in vitro studies also reported the impact of BVCs on bacterial biology through modulation of antibiotic resistance, biofilm formation and virulence. Here, we review BVCs influence on bacterial adaptation to their environment and discuss the biological relevance of recently reported inter- and intra-species bacterial interactions mediated by BVCs.
Highlights
While the contribution of diffusible soluble secondary metabolites in bacterial ability to communicate, compete or cooperate with neighboring microorganisms has been actively investigated, bacteria produce and release a wide diversity of volatile compounds that can be readily detected in the bacterial headspace (Schulz and Dickschat, 2007)
This review will present the current knowledge on bacterial volatile compounds or gases (BVCs) influence on inter- and intra-species bacterial interactions and will discuss their biological relevance and the interest to further study this particular class of bacterial metabolites
Volatile trimethylamine (TMA), produced by reduction of trimethylamine-oxide (TMAO) in TMAO-rich environments such as animal gut and tissues (Barrett and Kwan, 1985; Bos et al, 2013), can modulate bacterial resistance to several classes of antibiotics through medium alkalinization that affects proton motive force and membrane permeability (Letoffe et al, 2014). Another inorganic BVC produced by many bacteria, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), confers multidrug resistance upon different pathogens (B. anthracis, P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, and E. coli) under aerobic conditions via the mitigation of oxidative stress induced by antibiotic treatment upon suppression of DNAdamaging Fenton reaction (Gusarov et al, 2009)
Summary
While the contribution of diffusible soluble secondary metabolites in bacterial ability to communicate, compete or cooperate with neighboring microorganisms has been actively investigated, bacteria produce and release a wide diversity of volatile compounds that can be readily detected in the bacterial headspace (Schulz and Dickschat, 2007). Several BVCs were shown to influence growth and differentiation in fungi, to induce systemic resistance against bacterial pathogens in plants or to affect behaviors in invertebrates (Figure 1; Gallagher and Manoil, 2001; Ryu et al, 2003; Kai et al, 2008, 2009; Niu et al, 2010; Effmert et al, 2012) In addition of their action on a wide range of eukaryotic organisms, several reports revealed the potential impact of BVCs on bacteria themselves (Audrain et al, 2015). This review will present the current knowledge on BVCs influence on inter- and intra-species bacterial interactions and will discuss their biological relevance and the interest to further study this particular class of bacterial metabolites
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