ERIC Number: EJ1462620
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Mar
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1470-8175
EISSN: EISSN-1539-3429
Available Date: 2024-12-23
Quorum Sensing Inhibition Evaluation Method: An Experiment-Based Microbiology Laboratory Course
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, v53 n2 p191-199 2025
Bacteria have developed a cell-to-cell communication system called quorum sensing (QS), allowing them to regulate group behavior and synchronize the expression of virulence factors, responsible for increasing their infection capacity and resistance to antimicrobials. Although the control of microbial infections through the inhibition of microbial growth has traditionally been the basis of antimicrobial chemotherapy, the emergence of antimicrobial resistance has led to the search for new microbial control strategies, namely through the inhibition of QS. Among the agents studied to inhibit this bacterial communication are essential oils (EO), which are considered very effective QS inhibitors. When searching for new QS inhibitor agents, it is essential to have a cheap and easy-to-perform method that allows the evaluation of this activity. "Chromobacterium violaceum" is a Gram-negative bacterium that has been widely used as a model organism in QS research laboratories because it produces the violet-colored pigment violacein, which is regulated by QS and is an easily observable and quantifiable characteristic marker. The objective of this work is to describe a method to evaluate the inhibition of the QS using "Cymbopogon martinii" EO as a potential inhibitory agent for violacein production by "C. violaceum," which can be applied in the Microbiology laboratory course as a part of the programs of several science degrees. The proposed method is inexpensive and does not require specific equipment, enabling its easy implementation by the laboratory team and professors.
Descriptors: Inhibition, Evaluation Methods, Science Experiments, Microbiology, Laboratory Training, Science Laboratories, Scientific Concepts, Laboratory Procedures
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1CICS-UBI, Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal; 2Chemistry Department, Faculty of Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal