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Updated: Nov 1, 2025

Isolation and Chemical Characterization of Lipid A from Gram-negative Bacteria
Published on: September 16, 2013
The Bioactive Lipid (S)-Sebastenoic Acid Impacts Motility and Dispersion in Vibrio cholerae
Christopher J A Warner1, Mauro Salinas2, David Zamorano-Sánchez2
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
Abstract:
Although Gram-negative bacterial pathogens continue to impart a substantial burden on global healthcare systems, much remains to be understood about aspects of basic physiology in these organisms. In recent years, cyclic-diguanylate (c-di-GMP) has emerged as a key regulator of a number of important processes related to pathogenicity, including biofilm formation, motility and virulence. In an effort to discover chemical genetic probes for studying V. cholerae we have developed a new motility-based high-throughput screen to identify compounds that modulate c-di-GMP levels. Using this new screening platform, we tested a library of microbially-derived marine natural products extracts, leading to the discovery of the bioactive lipid (S)-sebastenoic acid. Evaluation of the effect of this new compound on bacterial motility, vpsL expression and biofilm formation implied that (S)-sebastenoic acid may alter phenotypes associated to c-di-GMP signaling in V. cholerae.
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