title: Controlling infection by tuning in and turning down the volume of bacterial small-talk.
abstract: As the prevalence of bacterial resistance to multiple antibiotics increases it is becoming progressively more difficult to treat infections and, in many cases, the available therapeutic options are severely limited. Hence, there is a growing urgency to the search for novel targets and the development of new antimicrobials. To infect a host and cause disease bacteria produce an array of virulence determinants that contribute to pathogenesis. It is now known that many different Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens communicate via the production and sensing of small, diffusible signal molecules, to coordinate virulence determinant production. As a consequence, this event, now termed quorum sensing, represents a novel therapeutic target offering the opportunity to attenuate virulence, and thus control infection, by blocking cell-to-cell communication.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cámara
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hardman
mesh_terms: D015107:4-Butyrolactone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D015195:Drug Design; D004351:Drug Resistance; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000628:therapy; D008025:Ligases / Q000378:metabolism; D010675:Pheromones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D018085:Regulon / Q000502:physiology*; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D010675:Pheromones; D008025:Ligases; C449816:N-acylhomoserine lactone synthase; D015107:4-Butyrolactone