Modified ethanolamides as unprecedented inhibitors of the Chromobacterium violaceum Quorum Sensing.

Quorum Sensing (QS) is a bacterial communication based on small molecules called autoinducers (AI). This communication allows bacteria to collectively perform tasks that wouldn’t carried out with the same success if performed individually, e.g. biofilm production, virulence factors, bioluminescence, etc. The interference on these communicatiom stops the behavior without killing the bacteria, suggesting a new therapeutic strategy, alternative antibiotics. Chromobacterium violaceum is an uncommon but potentially lethal infectious bacteria in humans. It produces violacein, a violet pigment that has been related to cytotoxic activity. The pigment production is controlled by QS mechanism. The use of modified ethanolamides interferes with QS due to its structural similarity to the bacteria autoinducer (1). Our study showed that 2, 3 and 4 have inhibition of 60% (1,25 mM), 58% (1 mM) and 65% (625 µM) respectively. Molecular docking was used to identify the interactions in the binding site of the bacteria.