quorum quenching revisited—from signal decays to signalling confusion群体淬火revisited-from信号衰减信号混乱.pdfVIP

Sensors 2012, 12, 4661-4696; doi:10.3390/s120404661 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Review Quorum Quenching Revisited—From Signal Decays to Signalling Confusion Kar-Wai Hong 1, Chong-Lek Koh 2, Choon-Kook Sam 2, Wai-Fong Yin 1 and Kok-Gan Chan 1,* 1 Division of Genetics and Molecular Biology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia 2 Natural Sciences and Science Education AG, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616, Singapore * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: kokgan@.my; Tel.: +603-7967-5162; Fax: +603-7967-4509. Received: 28 February 2012; in revised form: 23 March 2012 / Accepted: 26 March 2012 / Published: 10 April 2012 Abstract: In a polymicrobial community, while some bacteria are communicating with neighboring cells (quorum sensing), others are interrupting the communication (quorum quenching), thus creating a constant arms race between intercellular communication. In the past decade, numerous quorum quenching enzymes have been found and initially thought to inactivate the signalling molecules. Though this is widely accepted, the actual roles of these quorum quenching enzymes are now being uncovered. Recent evidence extends the role of quorum quenching to detoxification or metabolism of signalling molecules as food and energy source; this includes “signalling confusion”, a term coined in this paper to refer to the p