51. Quorum Sensing Inhibition by a Novel Pyrrolobenzodiazepine Analog

Abstract

Quorum Sensing Inhibition by a Novel Pyrrolobenzodiazepine Analog

Erin Shay, ^‡ Jairius Mayweather, ^‡ Joel Annor-Gyamfi, ^§ Abbas Shilabin, ^§ Dobrusia Bialonska^‡

^‡Department of Biology, University of North Georgia, Dahlonega, GA, 30597

^§ Department of Chemistry, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614

Bacteria can communicate with each other via quorum sensing (QS). This communication allows bacteria to determine bacterial density in a given area and then change their gene expression when a large enough group is detected. Many bacterial activities have been shown to be QS-regulated including toxin production, biofilm formation, and light production. If the process of QS can be interrupted it is possible that bacteria could be rendered less pathogenic; therefore, there has been an increased interest in discovery of novel quorum sensing inhibitors (QSI). The bacterium Chromobacterium violaceum serves as a model organism, because it produces a purple pigment if QS is reached or remains colorless if QS is inhibited. In this study, we used a disk diffusion assay to evaluate QS inhibitory activity of several pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) analogs. PBDs are produced by soil actinomycetes bacteria. One of the studied PBD derivatives showed a promising quorum quenching activity, which hasn’t been reported for this class of molecules before.