Comunicacion Celular En Bacterias

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Quorum-quenching microbial infections: mechanisms and implications
Yi-Hu Dong, Lian-Hui Wang and Lian-Hui Zhang Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2007 362, 1201-1211 doi: 10.1098/rstb.2007.2045

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Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B (2007) 362, 1201–1211 doi:10.1098/rstb.2007.2045 Published online 13 March 2007

Quorum-quenching microbial infections: mechanisms andimplications
Yi-Hu Dong1, Lian-Hui Wang1 and Lian-Hui Zhang1,2,*
1

Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, 61 Biopolis Drive, Singapore 138673, Republic of Singapore 2 Department of Biological Sciences, The National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260, Republic of Singapore

The discovery of antibiotics early in the past century marked the beginning of active controland prevention of infectious microbial diseases. However, extensive use of antibiotics has also unavoidably resulted in the emergence of ‘superbugs’ that resist conventional antibiotics. The finding that many pathogens rely on cell-to-cell communication mechanisms, known as quorum sensing, to synchronize microbial activities essential for infection and survival in the host suggests a promisingdisease control strategy, i.e. quenching microbial quorum sensing or in short, quorum quenching. Work over the past few years has demonstrated that quorum-quenching mechanisms are widely conserved in many prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. These naturally occurring quorum-quenching mechanisms appear to play important roles in microbe–microbe and pathogen–host interactions and have been used, orserved as lead compounds, in developing and formulating a new generation of antimicrobials. Characterization of the crystal structures of several types of quorum-quenching enzymes has provided valuable information to elucidate the catalytic mechanisms, as well as clues for future protein tailoring and molecular improvement. The discovery of quorum-sensing signal degradation enzymes in mammalianspecies represents a new milestone in quorum sensing and quorum quenching research. The finding highlights the importance of investigating their roles in host innate defence against infectious diseases and to determine the factors influencing their in vivo concentrations and catalytic activities. Keywords: quorum sensing; quorum quenching; cell-to-cell communication; AHL-lactonase; AHL-acylase; PONs1. INTRODUCTION Microbial pathogens, infecting humans, animals and plants, cause tremendous economic and personal losses. Until the establishment of germ theory and identification of specific microbes as the causal agents of a wide variety of infectious diseases, mankind seemed helpless against these diseases. This landmark finding ultimately led to the discovery and development of vaccines andantibiotics (for a review, see Morens et al. 2004). The invention of antibiotics in the 1920s and subsequent developments have rewritten the history of medicine, allowing treatment of infections that were once widely fatal. However, the early optimistic prediction of eradicating infectious diseases has become non-sustainable, as many pathogens have developed resistance to antibiotics. Infectious...