Identification and Quantification of Acylated Homoserine Lactones in Shewanella baltica, the Specific Spoilage Organism of Pseudosciaena crocea, by Ultrahigh-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled to Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry

Bacteria communicate with one another using chemical signal molecules called autoinducers, and the most prevalent autoinducers used by Gram-negative bacteria are N-acylated homoserine lactones (AHLs). However, AHLs are hardly detected in Shewanella baltica, the specific spoilage organism of Pseudosciaena crocea. In this study, we applied ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry to determine AHLs. This method enabled the quantification of up to 11 AHLs within 5.6 min with excellent sensitivity (ng/mL level) and linearity (r2 > 0.99), which further detected 9 AHLs produced by S. baltica. Furthermore, by using a biofilm formation assay and statistical analysis, the biofilm-inducing activity of AHL in S. baltica was first revealed. Our results elucidated the physiological role of AHL in S. baltica and provided a satisfactory method to detect AHLs and a statistical model to predict food spoilage properties.