Quorum Quenching Enzymes and Their Application in Degrading Signal Molecules to Block Quorum Sensing-Dependent Infection

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Fang Chen¹  Yuxin Gao¹  Xiaoyi Chen²  Zhimin Yu² 

[1] School of Biological Engineering, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China;

关键词: quorum sensing;    quorum quenching;    lactonase;    acylase;    acyl homoserine lactone;    specificity;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms140917477

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

With the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, the available options for treating bacterial infections have become very limited, and the search for a novel general antibacterial therapy has received much greater attention. Quorum quenching can be used to control disease in a quorum sensing system by triggering the pathogenic phenotype. The interference with the quorum sensing system by the quorum quenching enzyme is a potential strategy for replacing traditional antibiotics because the quorum quenching strategy does not aim to kill the pathogen or limit cell growth but to shut down the expression of the pathogenic gene. Quorum quenching enzymes have been identified in quorum sensing and non-quorum sensing microbes, including lactonase, acylase, oxidoreductase and paraoxonase. Lactonase is widely conserved in a range of bacterial species and has variable substrate spectra. The existence of quorum quenching enzymes in the quorum sensing microbes can attenuate their quorum sensing, leading to blocking unnecessary gene expression and pathogenic phenotypes. In this review, we discuss the physiological function of quorum quenching enzymes in bacterial infection and elucidate the enzymatic protection in quorum sensing systems for host diseases and their application in resistance against microbial diseases.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland