Engineering quorum sensing: new directions for antimicrobial therapy

Quorum sensing (QS) is a cell-cell communication mechanism that enables bacteria to coordinate gene expression in response to population density and community composition. In many pathogens, QS plays a central role in host colonization and virulence, making it an attractive target for antimicrobial intervention. Synthetic biology offers powerful tools to exploit this vulnerability by either disrupting QS signaling or engineering microorganisms with QS-based circuits to detect and eliminate pathogens. In this review, we examine how QS and QS interference can be harnessed for QS circuit engineering and translated into applications such as therapeutic microorganisms. We also highlight the transition of QS research from fundamental microbiology to translational biotechnology, underscoring its potential to drive innovative strategies against microbial virulence and antimicrobial resistance.