| Application of N-acyl-l-homoserine lactones (AHL)-mediated quorum sensing (QS) system to regulate biofilm formation and secondary metabolite synthesis has great commercial value. However, many microorganisms in nature have quorum quenching (QQ) enzymes, which can degrade natural AHL signal molecules, shorten the half-life of exogenous natural AHL signal molecules, and limit the application range of natural AHL signal molecules. Chemical synthesis AHL analogues, as QS agonists, form transcriptional dimers in a similar way to natural signal molecules and activate downstream gene expression, however, as compared with natural AHL signal molecules, chemically synthesized QS agonists have the advantages of high activity and long half-life. This review expounds the design idea, types and action mechanism of QS agonists, as well as the application of QS agonists on increasing secondary metabolite production and regulating microorganisms in bioleaching are summarized. The main research directions of QS agonists in the future were also discussed, so as to provide reference for the synthetic design and practical application of QS agonists. |
