Quorum Quenching Agents: Exploring Quorum Sensing Interfering Strategies in Marine Bacteria for the Development of Novel Therapeutics

Dear Colleagues,

It is well recognized that bacteria are able to communicate with each other using a cell-signaling system, known as “quorum sensing” (QS). The “language” that bacteria use to communicate is the use of small signaling molecules, enabling them to activate a variety of processes, including the biosynthesis of virulence factors, and biofilm formation in a synchronized, population-density-dependent manner. The discovery that QS controls the production of virulence factors and biofilm formation in many common nosocomial pathogens has opened the way for research looking at novel agents able to interfere with the QS mechanism, with the idea of developing novel ways to fight and/or control bacterial infections, other than by using antibiotics.

In recent years, the need to find alternatives to antibiotics has raised the level of emergency, due to the increasing occurrence of resistant strains that have enormous consequences for human lives and economic impact. The marine world represents an excellent source to isolate bioactive compounds that are able to interfere with the QS system, i.e. quorum quenching (QQ) agents, and, at the same time, to identify novel chemical tools to develop studies on QS mechanisms and their regulation.

This Special Issue of Marine Drugs will cover the entire field of marine QS and QQ agents. In particular, studies on the molecular mechanisms of these compounds are especially encouraged.

Prof. Valeria Costantino
Guest Editor

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