Chemical probe of AHL modulators on quorum sensing in Gram-Negative Bacteria and as antiproliferative agents: A review

Abstract

Pathogenic bacteria use an intercellular chemical communication system called quorum sensing (QS) to control the expression of cellular functions such as virulence factors, biofilm formation, toxin production, and antibiotic resistance in a manner that is highly dependent on population density. Hence, since the emergence of QS, there has been a great interest in exploiting the QS mechanism as a new drug target. Therefore, blocking the QS mechanism can be an effective strategy to control infection and solve the problem of drug resistance. So far, there is no clinically approved anti-QS drug that can disable the circuits of QS systems. This review discusses the quorum-sensing network systems and novel anti-QS inhibitors in some Gram-negative bacteria.

Keywords: Acyl homoserine lactone (AHL); Quorum sensing; Quorum sensing inhibitors; Quorum sensing systems; Structure-activity relationship (SAR).