Screening for quorum-sensing inhibitors (QSI) by use of a novel genetic system, the QSI selector

Thomas Bovbjerg Rasmussen, Thomas Bjarnsholt, Mette Elena Skindersoe, Morten Hentzer, Peter Kristoffersen, Manuela Köte, John Nielsen, Leo Eberl, Michael Givskov

450 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

With the widespread appearance of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, there is an increasing demand for novel strategies to control infectious diseases. Furthermore, it has become apparent that the bacterial life style also contributes significantly to this problem. Bacteria living in the biofilm mode of growth tolerate conventional antimicrobial treatments. The discovery that many bacteria use quorum-sensing (QS) systems to coordinate virulence and biofilm development has pointed out a new, promising target for antimicrobial drugs. We constructed a collection of screening systems, QS inhibitor (QSI) selectors, which enabled us to identify a number of novel QSIs among natural and synthetic compound libraries. The two most active were garlic extract and 4-nitro-pyridine-N-oxide (4-NPO). GeneChip-based transcriptome analysis revealed that garlic extract and 4-NPO had specificity for QS-controlled virulence genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These two QSIs also significantly reduced P. aeruginosa biofilm tolerance to tobramycin treatment as well as virulence in a Caenorhabditis elegans pathogenesis model.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Bacteriology
Volume187
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)1799-814
Number of pages15
ISSN0021-9193
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2005
Externally publishedYes

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