Author(s): Torcato, Inês Mota
Date: 2019
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/97140
Origin: Repositório Institucional da UNL
Project/scholarship: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/PD/PD%2FBD%2F105736%2F2014/PT;
Subject(s): Autoinducer-2; Bacterial behaviors; Biochemistry
"Quorum sensing is a bacterial cell-cell communication mechanism mediated by the production and detection of small chemical molecules named autoinducers. This communication mechanism allows bacteria to regulate group behaviors, through synchronization of gene expression, in response to variation in cell density and species composition. The possibility of interfering with quorum sensing to control bacterial behaviors is an attractive alternative to the commonly used antibiotics, to which bacteria develop resistances. Autoinducer-2 (AI-2) mediated quorum sensing is especially interesting as it is involved in interspecies communication in complex biological niches, like the mammalian gut microbiota, where it was shown to affect the bacterial species composition.(...)"
