Abstract
Abstract
Many common bacterial pathogens utilize quorum sensing to coordinate group behaviors and initiate virulence at high cell densities. The use of small molecules to block quorum sensing provides a means of abrogating pathogenic phenotypes, but many known quorum sensing modulators have limitations, including hydrolytic instability and displaying non-monotonic dose curves (indicative of additional targets and/or modes of action). To address these issues, we undertook a structure-based scaffold-hopping approach to develop new chemical modulators of the LasR quorum sensing receptor in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We combined components from a triphenyl derivative known to strongly agonize LasR with chemical moieties known for LasR antagonism and generated potent LasR antagonists that are hydrolytically stable across a range of pH values. Additionally, many of these antagonists do not exhibit non-monotonic dose effects, delivering probes that inhibit LasR across a wider range of assay conditions relative to known lactone-based ligands.