Effects of PNPG on cell growth cycle, motility machinery and quorum sensing in Serratia marcescens

p-Nitrophenylglycerol (PNPG) effectively inhibits swarming of the enterobacterium Proteus mirabilis. The underlying mechanism of inhibition is unclear. We have now found that both PNPG also inhibits motility and swarming in another enterobacterium, Serratia marcescens. While the peak promoter activities of the flagellar master operon (flhDC_sm), the flagellin structural gene (hag_sm) and the nuclease gene (nucA_sm) in S. marcescens increased with increasing PNPG concentration, the expression of these genes was delayed in accordance with the reduced growth rate. As the quorum-sensing system is involved in the regulation of swarming in S. marcescens, we also examined the effect of PNPG on the production of quorum-sensing signal molecules and found that their expression was delayed with a reduced level. PNPG, therefore, had a pleiotropic effect on all aspects of S. marcescens physiology relating to swarming. The underlying molecular mechanism remains to be elucidated.