Attenuation of Vibrio fischeri Quorum Sensing Using Rationally Designed Polymers

Abstract

A first attempt to attenuate the quorum sensing (QS) of a marine heterotroph microorganism, Vibrio fischeri , using signal molecule-sequestering polymers (SSPs) is presented. A set of rationally designed polymers with affinity toward a signal molecule of V. fischeri , N-(beta-ketocaproyl)-l-homoserine lactone (3-oxo-C6-AHL) was produced. It is reported that computationally designed polymers could sequester a signal molecule of V. fischeri and prevent QS-controlled phenotypes (in this case, bioluminescence) from being up-regulated. It was proven that the attenuation of bioluminescence of V. fischeri was due to sequestration of the signal molecule by specific polymers and not due to the toxicity of polymer or nonspecific depletion of nutrients. The ability to disrupt the bacterial communication using easy to synthesize and chemically inert polymers could provide a new concept for the development of pharmaceuticals and susceptible device coatings such as catheters.

Isotherm charts for material selection and method development with molecularly imprinted polymers and other sorbents

“…This apparent inferiority of the NIP may be due, however, to using it in a method optimized for the MIP, not for the NIP. Indeed, NIPs themselves are interesting for some applications [67,68] or have comparable performance to MIPs [69][70][71][72]. Usually they have their own selectivity [73][74][75][76][77] and during the imprinting process, this selectivity and/or their adsorption ability is only slightly improved (if at all).…”

An investigation of the interactions between an E. coli bacterial quorum sensing biosensor and chitosan-based nanocapsules

“…In particular, in the recent years, an increasing number of studies have focused on exploring the impacts of nanomaterials on bacterial QS signaling. [30][31][32][33] These have included the study of nanomaterials loaded either with QS inhibitors [34], or with AIs, as well as polymeric materials obtained by molecular imprinting with high recognition capacity to sequester AHLs, and thus inhibit QS responses [35,36].…”

Dendrimer mediated clustering of bacteria: improved aggregation and evaluation of bacterial response and viability

“…Polymeric materials are now starting to be and hence, resistance is less likely to develop. 10 Moreover, an-tivirulence strategies can be combined with other antimicroreported as relevant alternatives to modulate microbial signalling where they can passively and actively target these signal- [19][20][21][22][23][24][25] bial treatments to obtain synergistic benefits. 11 We, and others, have been exploring the use of polymeric maling networks.…”