N-cis-hexadec-9Z-enoyl-L-Homoserine lactone

Quorum sensing is a regulatory process used by bacteria for controlling gene expression in response to increasing cell density.[1] This regulatory process manifests itself with a variety of phenotypes including biofilm formation and virulence factor production.[2] Coordinated gene expression is achieved by the production, release, and detection of small diffusible signal molecules called autoinducers. The N-acylated homoserine lactones (AHLs) comprise one such class of autoinducers, each of which generally consists of a fatty acid coupled with homoserine lactone (HSL) . AHLs vary in acyl group length (C4-C18), in the substitution of C3 (hydrogen, hydroxyl, or oxo group) and in the presence or absence of one or more carbon-carbon double bonds in the fatty acid chain. These differences confer signal specificity through the affinity of transcriptional regulators of the LuxR family.[3] C16:1-Δ9- (L) -HSL is a long-chain AHL that functions as a quorum sensing signaling molecule in strains of S. meliloti.[4], [5], [6], [7] Regulating bacterial quorum sensing signaling can be used to inhibit pathogenesis and thus, represents a new approach to antimicrobial therapy in the treatment of infectious diseases.[8]