Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, Auckland, New Zealand.
Biochem Soc Trans. 2019 Jun 28;47(3):793-800. doi: 10.1042/BST20180165. Epub 2019 May 7.
Quorum sensing is a key contributor to the virulence of many important plant, animal and human pathogens. The disruption of this signalling-a process referred to as 'quorum quenching'-is a promising new approach for controlling microbial pathogens. In this mini-review, we have focused on efforts to engineer enzymes that disrupt quorum sensing by inactivating acyl-homoserine lactone signalling molecules. We review different approaches for protein engineering and provide examples of how these engineering approaches have been used to tailor the stability, specificity and activities of quorum quenching enzymes. Finally, we grapple with some of the issues around these approaches-including the disconnect between biochemistry and potential applications.
群体感应是许多重要的植物、动物和人类病原体毒力的关键因素。这种信号的中断——被称为“群体感应淬灭”——是控制微生物病原体的一种有前途的新方法。在这篇迷你综述中，我们专注于设计能够通过使酰高丝氨酸内酯信号分子失活来破坏群体感应的酶的努力。我们回顾了不同的蛋白质工程方法，并提供了如何使用这些工程方法来调整群体感应淬灭酶的稳定性、特异性和活性的例子。最后，我们探讨了这些方法存在的一些问题，包括生物化学和潜在应用之间的脱节。
