Background: Multivalent ligands have been used previously to investigate the role of ligand valency and receptor clustering in eliciting biological responses. Studies of multivalent ligand function, however, typically have employed divalent ligands or ligands of undefined valency. How cells respond to multivalent ligands of distinct valencies, which can cluster a signaling receptor to different extents, has never been examined. The chemoreceptors, which mediate chemotactic responses in bacteria, are localized, and clustering has been proposed to play a role in their function. Using multivalent ligands directed at the chemoreceptors, we hypothesized that we could exploit ligand valency to control receptor occupation and clustering and, ultimately. the cellular response. Results: To investigate the effects of ligand valency on the bacterial chemotactic response, we generated a series of linear multivalent arrays with distinct valencies by ring-opening metathesis polymerization. We report that these synthetic ligands elicit bacterial chemotaxis in both Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. The chemotactic response depended on the valency of the ligand; the response of the bacteria can be altered by varying chemoattractant ligand valency. Significantly, these differences in chemotactic responses were related to the ability of the multivalent ligands to cluster chemoreceptors at the plasma membrane. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that ligand valency can be used to tune the chemotactic responses of bacteria. This mode of regulation may arise from changes in receptor occupation or changes in receptor clustering or both. Our data implicate changes in receptor clustering as one important mechanism for altering cellular responses. Given the diverse events modulated by changes in the spatial proximity of cell surface receptors, our results suggest a general strategy for tuning biological responses.
