N-acylhomoserine lactone-mediated quorum sensing: a twist in the tail and a blow for host immunity

Communication through quorum sensing (QS) enables bacterial populations to coordinate their behavior. Recent work on N-acylhomoserine lactone-mediated QS has revealed that some soil bacteria exploit host-derived substrates to generate an alternative N-substituted homoserine lactone. New light has also been shed on the mechanism by which N-(3-oxo-dodecanoyl)-l-homoserine lactone modulates host inflammatory signaling pathways to promote bacterial survival. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.