title: Making bacteria behave: new agonists and antagonists of quorum sensing.
abstract: Small-molecule agonists and antagonists of bacterial quorum sensing can enhance our understanding of this form of cell-cell communication. A recent effort has discovered effective modulators of the autoinducer-1 circuit for bacterial quorum sensing by the synthesis and evaluation of a small library of aryl-substituted acyl-homoserine lactone analogues. This series highlights the sensitivity to structure of the contrasting responses of agonism and antagonism of the natural signal and identifies an analogue that provokes the same response as the natural signal but at 10-fold lower concentration, a "superagonist".
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
authors.forename: Megan E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Pomianek
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Semmelhack
mesh_terms: D015107:4-Butyrolactone / Q000819:agonists / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D048908:Aliivibrio fischeri / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008024:Ligands
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D008024:Ligands; C088386:homoserine lactone; C030654:N-(3-oxohexanoyl)-3-aminodihydro-2(3H)-furanone; D015107:4-Butyrolactone