Lactonase-mediated inhibition of quorum sensing largely alters phenotypes, proteome, and antimicrobial activities in E264.

Introduction: is a study model for , a highly virulent pathogen, known to be the causative agent of melioidosis and a potential bioterrorism agent. These two bacteria use an (acyl-homoserine lactone) AHL-mediated quorum sensing (QS) system to regulate different behaviors including biofilm formation, secondary metabolite productions, and motility.

Methods: Using an enzyme-based quorum quenching (QQ) strategy, with the lactonase Pox having the best activity on AHLs, we evaluated the importance of QS in by combining proteomic and phenotypic analyses.

Results: We demonstrated that QS disruption largely affects overall bacterial behavior including motility, proteolytic activity, and antimicrobial molecule production. We further showed that QQ treatment drastically decreases bactericidal activity against two bacteria ( and ), while a spectacular increase in antifungal activity was observed against fungi and yeast (, and ).

Discussion: This study provides evidence that QS is of prime interest when it comes to understanding the virulence of species and developing alternative treatments.