London, Dec 25 (IANS) An enzyme capable of disrupting bacterial chats offers a novel way of fighting infections, says a new study.
Although bacteria are simple single-celled organisms, they are capable of chatting with one another, by exchanging tiny hormone-like signal molecules.

By means of this ‘quorum sensing’, activities of a large group of bacteria are synchronised, according to University of Groningen (Netherlands) researchers.

Thus, bacteria can adapt quickly to changes in their environment such as the running out of nutrients or the arrival of rival micro-organisms.

The production of factors that determine the virulence of a bacterium is also controlled by these signal molecules. This enables bacteria to remain invisible to the immune system in the early stages of infection.

As soon as the group of informed bacteria - the quorum - is sufficiently large, the attack on the infected host is initiated by starting up the production of toxins and other virulence factors.

The quorum-quenching acylase (an extremely stable enzyme in the dry state) of which the Groningen research team has determined the structure, is capable of cutting off these signal molecules, said a Groningen release.

Consequently, communication processes between pathogenic bacteria are disturbed. The enzyme turns out to suppress the virulence of the lung bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the most important pathogen for cystic fibrosis.

These findings were published in the December online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.