Quorum sensing antagonism from marine organisms

With the global emergence of multiresistant bacteria there is an increasing demand for development of new treatments to combat pathogens. Bacterial cell-cell communication [quorum sensing (QS)] regulates expression of virulence factors in a number of bacterial pathogens and is a new promising target for the control of infectious bacteria.

We present the results of screening of 284 extracts of marine organisms from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, for their inhibition of QS. Of the 284 extracts, 64 (23%) were active in a general, LuxR-derived QS screen, and of these 36 (56%) were also active in a specific Pseudomonas aeruginosa QS screen.

Extracts of the marine sponge Luffariella variabilis proved active in both systems. The secondary metabolites manoalide, manoalide monoacetate, and secomanoalide isolated from the sponge showed strong QS inhibition of a lasB::gfp(ASV) fusion, demonstrating the potential for further identification of specific QS antagonists from marine organisms.