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Anti-virulent Disruption of Pathogenic Biofilms using Engineered Quorum-quenching Lactonases
Published on: January 1, 2016
Bacterial Quorum Sensing During Infection
Sheyda Azimi1,2, Alexander D Klementiev1,2, Marvin Whiteley1,2,3
1School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA; email: marvin.whiteley@biosci.gatech.edu, stephen.diggle@biosci.gatech.edu.
Abstract:
Bacteria are highly interactive and possess an extraordinary repertoire of intercellular communication and social behaviors, including quorum sensing (QS). QS has been studied in detail at the molecular level, so mechanistic details are well understood in many species and are often involved in virulence. The use of different animal host models has demonstrated QS-dependent control of virulence determinants and virulence in several human pathogenic bacteria. QS also controls virulence in several plant pathogenic species. Despite the role QS plays in virulence during animal and plant laboratory-engineered infections, QS mutants are frequently isolated from natural infections, demonstrating that the function of QS during infection and its role in pathogenesis remain poorly understood and are fruitful areas for future research. We discuss the role of QS during infection in various organisms and highlight approaches to better understand QS during human infection. This is an important consideration in an era of growing antimicrobial resistance, when we are looking for new ways to target bacterial infections.
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