Escherichia coli integrates chemotaxis and quorum sensing pathways in vivo

Abstract

Chemotaxis towards the interspecies quorum sensing signal autoinducer 2 (AI-2) promotes gut colonization by Escherichia coli and is linked to fructoselysine metabolism. The differential ability of E. coli strains to chemotactically respond to AI-2 further leads to niche segregation and co-existence of E. coli strains in the murine gut.