Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 21, 2026

Anti-virulent Disruption of Pathogenic Biofilms using Engineered Quorum-quenching Lactonases
Published on: January 1, 2016
Is there a role for quorum sensing signals in bacterial biofilms?
Staffan Kjelleberg1, Soeren Molin
1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Centre for Marine Biofouling and Bio-Innovation, The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia. S.Kjelleberg@unsw.edu.au
Abstract:
Bacteria form multicellular biofilm communities on most surfaces. Genetic analysis of biofilm formation has led to the proposal that extracellular signals and quorum-sensing regulatory systems are essential for differentiated biofilms. Although such a model fits the concept of density-driven cell-cell communication and appear to describe biofilm development in several bacterial species and conditions, biofilm formation is multifactorial and complex. Hydrodynamics, nutrient load and intracellular carbon flux have major impacts, presumably by altering the expression of cellular traits essential for bacterial adaptation during the different stages of biofilm formation. Hence, differentiated biofilms may also be the net result of many independent interactions, rather than being determined by a particular global quorum sensing system.
Related Concept Videos
Bacterial Signaling
Yeast Signaling
Biofilms
Global Regulatory Systems
Gene Regulation in Microbial Communities: Quorum Sensing
Regulation of Bacterial Virulence

