scholarly journals Interfering with Bacterial Quorum Sensing

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. PMC.S13209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Reuter ◽  
Anke Steinbach ◽  
Volkhard Helms
Keyword(s):  
Quorum Sensing ◽  
Vibrio Fischeri ◽  
Critical Threshold ◽  
Resistant Bacteria ◽  
Bacterial Cells ◽  
Bacterial Survival ◽  
Bacterial Populations ◽  
Bacterial Quorum Sensing ◽  
Bacterial Quorum ◽  
Molecular Components

Quorum sensing (QS) describes the exchange of chemical signals in bacterial populations to adjust the bacterial phenotypes according to the density of bacterial cells. This serves to express phenotypes that are advantageous for the group and ensure bacterial survival. To do so, bacterial cells synthesize autoinducer (AI) molecules, release them to the environment, and take them up. Thereby, the AI concentration reflects the cell density. When the AI concentration exceeds a critical threshold in the cells, the AI may activate the expression of virulence-associated genes or of luminescent proteins. It has been argued that targeting the QS system puts less selective pressure on these pathogens and should avoid the development of resistant bacteria. Therefore, the molecular components of QS systems have been suggested as promising targets for developing new anti-infective compounds. Here, we review the QS systems of selected gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, namely, Vibrio fischeri, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus, and discuss various antivirulence strategies based on blocking different components of the QS machinery.

scholarly journals Evolutionary theory of bacterial quorum sensing: when is a signal not a signal?

2007 ◽  
Vol 362 (1483) ◽  
pp. 1241-1249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen P Diggle ◽  
Andy Gardner ◽  
Stuart A West ◽  
Ashleigh S Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Quorum Sensing ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Bacterial Cells ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Population Response ◽  
Future Action ◽  
Bacterial Quorum Sensing ◽  
Bacterial Quorum

The term quorum sensing (QS) is used to describe the communication between bacterial cells, whereby a coordinated population response is controlled by diffusible molecules produced by individuals. QS has not only been described between cells of the same species (intraspecies), but also between species (interspecies) and between bacteria and higher organisms (inter-kingdom). The fact that QS-based communication appears to be widespread among microbes is strange, considering that explaining both cooperation and communication are two of the greatest problems in evolutionary biology. From an evolutionary perspective, intraspecies signalling can be explained using models such as kin selection, but when communication is described between species, it is more difficult to explain. It is probable that in many cases this involves QS molecules being used as ‘cues’ by other species as a guide to future action or as manipulating molecules whereby one species will ‘coerce’ a response from another. In these cases, the usage of QS molecules cannot be described as signalling. This review seeks to integrate the evolutionary literature on animal signalling with the microbiological literature on QS, and asks whether QS within bacteria is true signalling or whether these molecules are also used as cues or for the coercion of other cells.

scholarly journals Bacterial Quorum Sensing and Microbial Community Interactions

mBio ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhea G. Abisado ◽  
Saida Benomar ◽  
Jennifer R. Klaus ◽  
Ajai A. Dandekar ◽  
Josephine R. Chandler
Keyword(s):  
Quorum Sensing ◽  
Bacterial Infections ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Cell Communication ◽  
Microbial Interactions ◽  
Community Interactions ◽  
Bacterial Populations ◽  
Bacterial Quorum Sensing ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Bacterial Quorum

ABSTRACTMany bacteria use a cell-cell communication system called quorum sensing to coordinate population density-dependent changes in behavior. Quorum sensing involves production of and response to diffusible or secreted signals, which can vary substantially across different types of bacteria. In many species, quorum sensing modulates virulence functions and is important for pathogenesis. Over the past half-century, there has been a significant accumulation of knowledge of the molecular mechanisms, signal structures, gene regulons, and behavioral responses associated with quorum-sensing systems in diverse bacteria. More recent studies have focused on understanding quorum sensing in the context of bacterial sociality. Studies of the role of quorum sensing in cooperative and competitive microbial interactions have revealed how quorum sensing coordinates interactions both within a species and between species. Such studies of quorum sensing as a social behavior have relied on the development of “synthetic ecological” models that use nonclonal bacterial populations. In this review, we discuss some of these models and recent advances in understanding how microbes might interact with one another using quorum sensing. The knowledge gained from these lines of investigation has the potential to guide studies of microbial sociality in natural settings and the design of new medicines and therapies to treat bacterial infections.

scholarly journals Implications of Rewiring Bacterial Quorum Sensing

2007 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 437-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric L. Haseltine ◽  
Frances H. Arnold
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Quorum Sensing ◽  
Network Architecture ◽  
Vibrio Fischeri ◽  
Cell Communication ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Synthetic Gene Circuits ◽  
Bacterial Quorum Sensing ◽  
Forward Engineering ◽  
Bacterial Quorum

ABSTRACT Bacteria employ quorum sensing, a form of cell-cell communication, to sense changes in population density and regulate gene expression accordingly. This work investigated the rewiring of one quorum-sensing module, the lux circuit from the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri. Steady-state experiments demonstrate that rewiring the network architecture of this module can yield graded, threshold, and bistable gene expression as predicted by a mathematical model. The experiments also show that the native lux operon is most consistent with a threshold, as opposed to a bistable, response. Each of the rewired networks yielded functional population sensors at biologically relevant conditions, suggesting that this operon is particularly robust. These findings (i) permit prediction of the behaviors of quorum-sensing operons in bacterial pathogens and (ii) facilitate forward engineering of synthetic gene circuits.

scholarly journals Bacterial Quorum-Sensing Regulation Induces Morphological Change in a Key Host Tissue during the Euprymna scolopes-Vibrio fischeri Symbiosis

mBio ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Essock-Burns ◽  
B. D. Bennett ◽  
D. Arencibia ◽  
S. Moriano-Gutierrez ◽  
M. Medeiros ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quorum Sensing ◽  
Morphological Change ◽  
Vibrio Fischeri ◽  
Host Tissue ◽  
Light Organ ◽  
Euprymna Scolopes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Bacterial Quorum Sensing ◽  
Colonization Factors ◽  
Bacterial Quorum

Interbacterial signaling within a host-associated population can have profound effects on the behavior of the bacteria, for instance, in their production of virulence/colonization factors; in addition, such signaling can dictate the nature of the outcome for the host, in both pathogenic and beneficial associations. Using the monospecific squid-vibrio model of symbiosis, we examined how quorum-sensing regulation by the Vibrio fischeri population induces a biogeographic tissue phenotype that promotes the retention of this extracellular symbiont within the light organ of its host, Euprymna scolopes .

scholarly journals Screening of Bacterial Quorum Sensing Inhibitors in a Vibrio fischeri LuxR-Based Synthetic Fluorescent E. coli Biosensor

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 263
Author(s):  
Xiaofei Qin ◽  
Celina Vila-Sanjurjo ◽  
Ratna Singh ◽  
Bodo Philipp ◽  
Francisco M. Goycoolea
Keyword(s):  
Quorum Sensing ◽  
Bacterial Growth ◽  
Vibrio Fischeri ◽  
Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester ◽  
Docking Studies ◽  
Inhibition Activity ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Bacterial Quorum Sensing ◽  
Pure Compounds ◽  
Bacterial Quorum

A library of 23 pure compounds of varying structural and chemical characteristics was screened for their quorum sensing (QS) inhibition activity using a synthetic fluorescent Escherichia coli biosensor that incorporates a modified version of lux regulon of Vibrio fischeri. Four such compounds exhibited QS inhibition activity without compromising bacterial growth, namely, phenazine carboxylic acid (PCA), 2-heptyl-3-hydroxy-4-quinolone (PQS), 1H-2-methyl-4-quinolone (MOQ) and genipin. When applied at 50 µM, these compounds reduced the QS response of the biosensor to 33.7% ± 2.6%, 43.1% ± 2.7%, 62.2% ± 6.3% and 43.3% ± 1.2%, respectively. A series of compounds only showed activity when tested at higher concentrations. This was the case of caffeine, which, when applied at 1 mM, reduced the QS to 47% ± 4.2%. In turn, capsaicin, caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), furanone and polygodial exhibited antibacterial activity when applied at 1mM, and reduced the bacterial growth by 12.8% ± 10.1%, 24.4% ± 7.0%, 91.4% ± 7.4% and 97.5% ± 3.8%, respectively. Similarly, we confirmed that trans-cinnamaldehyde and vanillin, when tested at 1 mM, reduced the QS response to 68.3% ± 4.9% and 27.1% ± 7.4%, respectively, though at the expense of concomitantly reducing cell growth by 18.6% ± 2.5% and 16% ± 2.2%, respectively. Two QS natural compounds of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, namely PQS and PCA, and the related, synthetic compounds MOQ, 1H-3-hydroxyl-4-quinolone (HOQ) and 1H-2-methyl-3-hydroxyl-4-quinolone (MHOQ) were used in molecular docking studies with the binding domain of the QS receptor TraR as a target. We offer here a general interpretation of structure-function relationships in this class of compounds that underpins their potential application as alternatives to antibiotics in controlling bacterial virulence.

Influence of Polyphenols on Bacterial Biofilm Formation and Quorum-sensing

2003 ◽  
Vol 58 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 879-884 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Huber ◽  
Leo Eberl ◽  
Walter Feucht ◽  
Jürgen Polster
Keyword(s):  
Gene Regulation ◽  
Quorum Sensing ◽  
Biofilm Formation ◽  
Pathogenic Bacteria ◽  
Bacterial Biofilm ◽  
Signal Molecules ◽  
Bacterial Cells ◽  
Regulatory Systems ◽  
Bacterial Quorum Sensing ◽  
Bacterial Quorum

Abstract Many bacteria utilize sophisticated regulatory systems to ensure that some functions are only expressed when a particular population density has been reached. The term ‘quorumsensing’ has been coined to describe this form of density-dependent gene regulation which relies on the production and perception of small signal molecules by bacterial cells. As in many pathogenic bacteria the production of virulence factors is quorum-sensing regulated, it has been suggested that this form of gene regulation allows the bacteria to remain invisible to the defence systems of the host until the population is sufficiently large to successfully establish the infection. Here we present first evidence that polyphenolic compounds can interfere with bacterial quorum-sensing. Since polyphenols are widely distributed in the plant kingdom, they may be important for promoting plant fitness.

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