1. Academic Validation
  2. Phenotypic Discovery of an Antivirulence Agent against Vibrio vulnificus via Modulation of Quorum-Sensing Regulator SmcR

Phenotypic Discovery of an Antivirulence Agent against Vibrio vulnificus via Modulation of Quorum-Sensing Regulator SmcR

  • ACS Infect Dis. 2020 Nov 13;6(11):3076-3082. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.0c00587.
Seung Min Kim 1 Jongmin Park 2 Myun Soo Kim 3 Heebum Song 2 Ala Jo 2 Hankum Park 2 Tae Sung Kim 3 Sang Ho Choi 1 Seung Bum Park 2
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea.
  • 2 CRI Center for Chemical Proteomics, Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea.
  • 3 Division of Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea.
Abstract

An antivirulence agent against Vibrio vulnificus named quoromycin (QM) was discovered by a phenotype-based Elastase Inhibitor screening. Using the fluorescence difference in two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (FITGE) approach, SmcR, a quorum-sensing master regulator and homologue of LuxR, was identified as the target protein of QM. We confirmed that the direct binding of QM to SmcR inhibits the quorum-sensing signaling pathway by controlling the DNA-binding affinity of SmcR and thus effectively alleviates the virulence of V. vulnificus in vitro and in vivo. QM can be regarded as a novel antivirulence agent for the treatment of V. vulnificus Infection.

Keywords

SmcR; Vibrio vulnificus; antivirulence agent; quorum sensing; target identification.

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