Modulation of microbial quorum sensing:Nanotechnological approaches

Abstract

Omnipresent microorganisms, though being mostly unicellular, can practice a collective behavior by executing a social activity called quorum sensing (QS). They communicate among themselves, and cross-kingdom communication is also widespread. The cross-talk between microbial members and their animal/plant host is important from a clinical and agricultural perspective. If we can learn to modulate these communication processes, downregulating them can be effective against pathogens; upregulating them can help increase the productivity of industrial fermentations, as many of the clinically and industrially relevant traits of microbes are QS-regulated. Nanotechnology seems to have the promise of target-specific delivery of QS modulators to the microbial population(s) in a diseased host, or inside a fermentor. Nanotechnology can help in achieving the desired QS-modulatory effects on target populations, using minimum concentrations of such formulations.