Interfering with “Bacterial Gossip”

Abstract

Biofilm resilience poses major challenges to the development of novel antimicrobial agents. Biofilm bacteria can be considered small groups of “Special Forces” capable of infiltrating the host and destroying important components of the cellular defense system with the aim of crippling the host defense. Antibiotics exhibit a rather limited effect on biofilms. Furthermore, antibiotics have an “inher- ent obsolescence” because they select for development of resistance. Bacterial infections with origin in bacterial biofilms have become a serious threat in devel- oped countries. Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms are thought to be the dominant agent in many chronic infections including those in cystic fibrosis lungs and chronic wounds. With the present day’s awareness of biofilms, the future task is to exploit this knowledge for development and application of antimicrobial intervention strategies that appropriately target bacteria in their relevant habitat with the aim of mitigating their destructive impact on patients. In this review, we describe molecular mechanisms involved in “bacterial gossip” (more scientifically referred to as quorum sensing (QS) and c-di-GMP signaling), virulence, biofilm formation, resistance and QS inhibition as future antimicrobial targets, in particular those that would work to minimize selection pressures for the development of resistant bacteria.