Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Quorum Sensing, bacteria, and pigment morphology

So the conundrum that I have been faced with is that even though the eczema isolated Staph has been associated with fungus it is not a fungus.  Staph is not dimorphic in shape with milk and egg (casien and ovalbumin) rather it becomes cloaked with yellow pigment hence the name goldenrod.  I looked first to see if gluten and casein could be functioning as serpins triggering not a shape morphology change but a pigment production. What I found was Quorum sensing. In response to an increase in bacteria population bacterias release quorum molecules which induce serine proteases, antibiotics, and pigments. This new quorum induced state is always described as a more virulent species of the bacteria.

so I am now pondering...is this what is happening in staph? similar to a fungus shifting between a dormant mold state to a spewing yeast state does a staph shift from a quiet state to a quorum virulent state where it spews proteases and cloaks itself in colored pigment? are these comparable states? Staph makes the golden pigment when plated on egg.

Here are examples:
The tail rot in fish is caused by Aeromonas salmonicida  secretes a serpin in response to quorum factors.
The potato pathogen Pectobacterium carotovorum expressed Evr and orange pigment in response to quorum sensing.

Hmm Maybe I am again going to far out on a limb but something is there.  Children may develop the immune reaction to milk and egg because the staph in the eczema reacts to the them...with a quorum like response? Is this possible? I am still trying to piece things together.

Kids have milk and egg allergies with eczema. Staph makes the pigment with milk and egg.


Angela Biggs