Listening to enteric bacteria from the perspective of antibiotic alternatives in animal husbandry

Abstract

Antibiotic alternatives are urgently needed to combat the gut dysbiosis and antibiotic resistance due to the long-term use of antibiotics in farm animals and the slow growth of discovery of novel antibiotics. Interfering with bacterial cell-to-cell communication, known as quorum sensing (QS) is a promising strategy. QS inhibitors, or quenchers, can suppress various social activities and physiological processes, including the production of virulence factors and biofilm formation without inducing antibiotic resistance. There are dense microbes in the gut of animals, which communicate with each other as well as the hosts. The phenomena of QS in gut pathogens of farm animals is a novel area that deserves intense interest and further research. However, a few of studies have investigated QS changes in gut pathogens of farm animals, and validation of quenchers in animals is lacking. Combining antibiotic alternatives and antibiotics could achieve a synergistic effect, and improving our understanding of QS targets and developing databases for precision medicine could lead to more effective and safe use of quenchers. In this review, we summarized recent development of QS in farm animals and the mechanism of quencher used as antibiotic alternatives. Furthermore, the review concluded the advantage of using QS to fight against bacteria and put forward some perspectives for the future development of QS in antibiotics.