Carbon Catabolite Repression and Quorum Sensing Interplay in Marine Fish Spoilage: An Integrated Metabolic...

Bacterial quorum sensing (QS) systems pose a significant challenge to the preservation of protein-rich marine fish, as coordinated spoilage behaviors such as biofilm formation and volatile amine production are activated under specific metabolic conditions. Despite well-characterized spoilage organisms, the regulatory logic linking metabolic state to QS-driven collective behaviors remains incompletely understood. Thus, the goals of this review were to synthesize current knowledge on how carbon catabolite repression (CCR) gates QS-dependent spoilage programs in marine fish; examine the molecular mechanisms by which global regulators (cAMP-CRP, Crc/CrcZ, CcpA, (p)ppGpp-RpoS) interface with QS circuitry; and describe how this mechanistic understanding can be translated into anti-virulence preservation strategies that mislead metabolic sensors or disrupt quorum communication. In particular, this review focuses on the ecological manifestations of CCR-QS crosstalk in key spoilage genera and the latest progress in integrating metabolic modulators with QS inhibitors within stimuli-responsive smart packaging. Finally, current challenges limiting the systematic application of this metabolic perspective in the fish industry are discussed, including unresolved molecular interfaces in nonmodel spoilage organisms and methodological bottlenecks in spatially resolved analysis. It is important to note that while the proposed CCR-QS framework is strongly supported by direct mechanistic evidence in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, its molecular details remain largely unvalidated in most major marine fish specific spoilage organisms (SSOs). Nevertheless, this framework offers a testable conceptual scaffold that integrates nutrient-driven growth kinetics with QS-mediated social behavior, providing a mechanistic basis for designing next-generation precision preservation strategies.