Defining the Structure and Function of Acyl-Homoserine Lactone Autoinducers

Quorum sensing plays a central role in regulating many community-derived symbiotic and pathogenic relationships of bacteria, and as such has attracted much attention in recent years. Acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) are important signaling molecules in the quorum sensing gene-regulatory processes found in numerous gram-negative species of bacteria that interact with eukaryotic organisms. AHLs are produced by acyl-homoserine lactone synthases. Bacteria can have multiple genes for AHL synthase enzymes, and such species are likely to produce several different types of AHLs. Determination of the types and the relative amounts of AHLs produced by AHL synthases in bacteria under varied conditions provides important insights into the mechanism of AHL synthase function and the regulation of transcriptional cascades initiated by quorum sensing signaling. This chapter describes a mass spectrometry method for determining the types and relative amounts of AHLs present in a sample.