Current advances in Vibrio harveyi quorum sensing as drug discovery targets

Abstract

Vibrio harveyi is a marine bacterial pathogen which infects a wide range of marine organisms and results in severe loss. Antibiotics have been used for prophylaxis and treatment of V. harveyi infection. However, antibiotic resistance is a major public health threat to both human and animals. Therefore, there is an urgent need for novel antimicrobial agents with new modes of action. In V. harveyi, many virulence factors production and bioluminescence formation depend on its quorum sensing (QS) network. Therefore, the QS system has been widely investigated as an effective potential target for the treatment of V. harveyi infection. This perspective focuses on the quorum sensing inhibitors (QSIs) of V. harveyi QS systems (LuxM/N, LuxS/PQ, and CqsA/S) and evaluates medicinal chemistry strategies.

Keywords: Quorum sensing; Quorum sensing inhibitors; Target; Vibrio harveyi.