1. Wprowadzenie. 2. Wyczuwanie liczebności jako sposób komunikowania się bakterii. 3. Organiczne inhibitory QS. 3.1. Inhibitory roślinne. 3.2. Inhibitory pochodzenia zwierzęcego. 3.3. Inhibitory produkowane przez bakterie. 4. Hamowanie QS przez nanocząstki. 5. Uwagi końcowe

Abstact: Quorum sensing (QS) is a commonly used way of cell-to-cell communication which plays a role in the regulation of gene expression and, therefore, controls bacterial social behavior and pathogenicity. The inhibition of QS, called quorum quenching (QQ), is considered as a promising strategy to combat bacterial infections without severe influence on bacterial survival. To date, several anti-QS approaches have been documented. In this article, two groups of potent QS inhibitors are described: 1) natural, organic compounds isolated from plants, animals and bacteria and 2) various types of nanoparticles. The ability of the sublethal concentration of these compounds to inhibit QS autoinducers synthesis as well as various steps of QS-regulated cellular response, and thus virulent traits of bacterial pathogens such as biofilm development, are discussed. QS inhibitors can constitute the promising future alternative to antibiotics, especially since until now, the development of bacterial resistance to neither group of these compounds has been reported.

1. Introduction. 2. Quorum sensing as a system of bacterial communication. 3. Organic inhibitors of QS. 3.1. Plant compounds. 3.2. Inhibitors of animal origin. 3.3. Inhibitors synthesized by bacteria. 4. QS inhibition by nanoparticles. 5. Concluding remarks