Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Microbial Signals and Disease Control, Integrative Microbiology Research Center, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China; email:
Annu Rev Microbiol. 2019 Sep 8;73:559-578. doi: 10.1146/annurev-micro-020518-120044. Epub 2019 Jun 21.
is an opportunistic pathogen that causes a variety of acute and chronic infections. Usually a commensal on the host body, is capable of transforming into a virulent pathogen upon sensing favorable changes in the host immune system or stress cues. infections are hard to eradicate, because this pathogen has developed strong resistance to most conventional antibiotics; in addition, in chronic infections it commonly forms a biofilm matrix, which provides bacterial cells a protected environment to withstand various stresses including antibiotics. Given its importance as a human pathogen and its notorious antimicrobial tolerance, has been the subject of intensive investigations internationally. Research progress over the last two decades has unveiled a range of chemical communication systems in this pathogen. These diversified chemical communication systems endow a superb ability and remarkable flexibility to coordinate and modulate accordingly the transcriptional expression of various sets of genes associated with virulence and other physiologic activities in response to environmental changes. A fair understanding of the chemical signaling mechanisms with which governs virulence gene expression may hold the key to developing alternative therapeutic interventions that control and prevent bacterial infections.
是一种机会致病菌,可引起多种急性和慢性感染。通常在宿主体内是共生菌,但在感知到宿主免疫系统或应激信号的有利变化时,能够转化为毒力病原体。 感染难以根除,因为这种病原体对大多数常规抗生素产生了很强的耐药性;此外,在慢性感染中,它通常形成生物膜基质,为细菌细胞提供一个受保护的环境,以抵抗包括抗生素在内的各种压力。鉴于其作为人类病原体的重要性及其臭名昭著的抗微生物耐受性, 已成为国际上的研究热点。在过去二十年的研究进展中,揭示了这种病原体中的一系列化学通讯系统。这些多样化的化学通讯系统赋予了 卓越的能力和显著的灵活性,以协调和调节与毒力和其他生理活动相关的各种基因的转录表达,以响应环境变化。深入了解 控制毒力基因表达的化学信号机制可能是开发控制和预防细菌感染的替代治疗干预措施的关键。