Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 9, 2026
07:47
Anti-virulent Disruption of Pathogenic Biofilms using Engineered Quorum-quenching Lactonases
Published on: January 1, 2016
Quorum sensing inhibitors: can endophytes be prospective sources?
Abhirup Mookherjee1, Shivangi Singh1, Mrinal K Maiti2
1Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, 721302, India.
Archives of Microbiology
|October 14, 2017
Summary
Endophytic microbes can produce novel quorum sensing (QS) inhibitors, offering a promising antivirulence strategy against drug-resistant pathogens. This research explores bioprospecting these microbes for new therapeutic agents.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Pharmacology
- Natural Products Chemistry
Background:
- Pathogen resistance to current treatments necessitates novel therapeutic agents.
- Quorum sensing (QS) regulates microbial virulence, including biofilm formation.
- Endophytic microbes, residing within plants, synthesize diverse bioactive molecules.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the bioprospecting of endophytic microbes for novel quorum sensing (QS) inhibitors.
- To explore the potential of QS inhibitors as an antivirulence strategy.
- To highlight the role of endophytes in discovering new therapeutic agents.
Main Methods:
- Overview of quorum sensing (QS) and QS inhibition mechanisms.
- Summary of endophytes as sources of bioactive metabolites, specifically QS inhibitors.
- Outline of screening, purification, production, and application processes for QS inhibitors derived from endophytic microbes.
Main Results:
- Endophytic microbes are a rich source of bioactive molecules with QS inhibitory potential.
- QS inhibitors from endophytes represent an innovative antivirulence strategy.
- Bioprospecting endophytes offers a pathway to novel therapeutic agents.
Conclusions:
- Endophytic microbes hold significant promise for developing new QS inhibitors.
- These inhibitors can be utilized in antivirulence approaches against pathogenic microbes.
- Further understanding of endophyte biology is crucial for applications in human healthcare and the food industry.
Related Concept Videos
01:30Bacterial Signaling
Bacterial signaling can occur within bacteria (intracellular) or between bacteria (intercellular). At times, a group of bacteria behaves like a community. To achieve this, they engage in quorum sensing, the perception of higher cell density that causes changes in gene expression. Quorum sensing involves both extracellular and intracellular signaling. The signaling cascade starts with a molecule called an autoinducer (AI). Individual bacteria produce AIs that move out of the bacterial cell...
01:28Gene Regulation in Microbial Communities: Quorum Sensing
Quorum sensing is a mechanism of bacterial communication that enables coordinated gene expression in response to changes in population density. This facilitates collective behaviors that enhance survival, resource acquisition, and ecological adaptation. This process relies on small signaling molecules called autoinducers that accumulate as bacterial populations grow. When a critical threshold concentration of autoinducers is reached, bacterial cells collectively modify gene expression,...
01:09Microbe-Plant Interactions
Microbe-plant interactions represent a dynamic spectrum of associations shaped by intricate chemical signaling. These interactions can be neutral, beneficial, or detrimental, and profoundly influence plant physiology, growth, and ecosystem function. The plant microbiome, comprising bacteria, fungi, archaea, protists, and viruses, plays a pivotal role in mediating these effects through surface colonization, internal colonization, or systemic symbiosis.Mutualistic associations, particularly with...
01:24iChip
The cultivation of environmental microorganisms has long been hindered by the inability to replicate complex native conditions in vitro. The isolation chip (iChip) addresses this limitation by facilitating the growth of previously uncultivable microorganisms through in situ incubation. Designed for high-throughput microbial cultivation, the iChip comprises hundreds of microchambers, each capable of housing a single microbial cell. These microchambers are loaded with a mixture of molten agar and...