A New Promising Target for Plant Extracts: Inhibition of Bacterial Quorum Sensing

Bacteria coordinate bacterium-bacterium interactions through a cell-to-cell communication mechanism known as quorum sensing (QS) systems. The QS-controlled behaviors occur when the bacterial population grows until a threshold concentration perceived by the bacteria is reached. There is an increasing need for the discovery of alternative antimicrobial therapies to control the bacterial pathogenicity; one of these is the herbal remedies. Besides their antibacterial properties, they can also target bacterial QS and thereby, interrupt bacterial communication. Crude plant extracts have anti-QS activities with inhibition of the expression of well-established specific induced gene(s). The quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) assay had shown the down regulation of the QS-related genes.

Author(s): Marwa I Abd El-Hamid

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