Anti-quorum sensing agents: a potential alternative for antibiotics

Abstract

Quorum sensing (QS) is a bacterial cell to cell communication, which helps bacteria to mount population-density-dependent infection to overcome the defence responses from host. In this mechanism some diffusible chemical signalling compounds are involved, known as autoinducers, which are directly proportional to the population cell density. The main role of QS is to coordinate the expression of several collective traits, including the production of virulence factors, secondary metabolites with antimicrobial activity, pigment production, siderophore production, epiphytic fitness, bioluminescence, plasmid transfer, motility and biofilm formation. Due to the growing bacterial resistance to the antibiotics that have been overused, it has become necessary to search for alternative antimicrobial therapies. One of them is anti-quorum sensing agents/anti-biofilm agents/quorum sensing inhibitors that disrupts the bacterial communication. This study discusses the various QS-disrupting mechanisms used by anti-quorum sensing agents such as, inhibition of AIs synthesis inhibition of AI transport, degradation of AIs using enzymes, sequestration of AIs using monoclonal antibodies, QS signal competition (QS mimicry), as well as the different techniques applied artificially to inhibit the QS pathways in bacteria and thus protecting plant from bacterial diseases.