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Anti-virulent Disruption of Pathogenic Biofilms using Engineered Quorum-quenching Lactonases
Published on: January 1, 2016
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Quorum sensing and biofilms in the pathogen, Streptococcus pneumoniae
Joana Galante, Alfred C-Y Ho, Sarah Tingey
1Centre for Clinical Microbiology, UCL Medical School Royal Free Campus Rowland Hill Street London NW3 2PF. b.charalambous@ucl.ac.uk.
Current Pharmaceutical Design
|September 6, 2014
Summary
Bacteria use quorum sensing to regulate biofilms, crucial for human health and disease. This review details advances in understanding these signaling networks, including the ComABCDE and LuxS/AI-2 pathways.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Molecular Biology
- Genetics
Background:
- Bacterial biofilms are complex systems crucial in human health and disease.
- Quorum sensing is a cell-to-cell communication network regulating bacterial biofilms and other processes.
- Recent advances have provided new insights into bacterial biofilm regulation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent advances in quorum sensing and bacterial biofilms.
- To analyze genotypic and phenotypic variation in Streptococcus pneumoniae quorum sensing pathways.
- To compare the prevalence and conservation of different quorum sensing mechanisms across bacterial genera.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of quorum sensing and biofilm research.
- Original analysis of genotypic and phenotypic variation of ComC and ComD in Streptococcus.
- Comparative sequence analysis of LuxS/AI-2 pathway across bacterial genera.
Main Results:
- The ComABCDE pathway is involved in Streptococcus pneumoniae biofilm regulation.
- The BlpABCSRH pathway regulates bacteriocin production to inhibit competing bacteria.
- The LuxS/AI-2 pathway is more universally conserved across bacterial genera than the Com pathway.
Conclusions:
- Quorum sensing pathways like ComABCDE, BlpABCSRH, and LuxS/AI-2 play vital roles in bacterial behavior.
- Comparative analysis reveals varying conservation of these pathways across bacterial species and genera.
- Understanding these mechanisms offers insights into bacterial pathogenesis and potential therapeutic targets.
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