ArticleCurrent biology : CB2016
Auto Poisoning of the Respiratory Chain by a Quorum-Sensing-Regulated Molecule Favors Biofilm Formation and Antibiotic Tolerance.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 108 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
108 citing papers in PubMed, 222 citations in OpenAlex.
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- CApEsid biOfilm: a suggested pipeline for clinical phage microbiology for biofilm infections based on comparative method study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Metal-independent effects of calprotectin on cocultures ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Plant Extracts Target Biofilms to Alleviate Nutritional and Metabolic Disorders in Animals.Veterinary sciences · 2026Review
- TheJournal of bacteriology · 2026Article
- Bioinformatics-Driven, Plant-Based Antibiotic Research Against Quorum Sensing and Biofilm Formation inBiomolecules · 2026Review
- Monophosphoryl lipid A boosts macrophage antimicrobial immunity by metabolically regulating source-specific ROS generation.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Review
- Identification of ferredoxin PA1551 as an antibacterial synergistic target for biofilm inhibitors against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Article
- Cell differentiation, aging, and death in spatially organized yeast communities: mechanisms and consequences.Cell death and differentiation · 2025Review
- High-resolution 3D spatial distribution of complex microbial colonies revealed by mass spectrometry imaging.Journal of advanced research · 2025Article
- MvfR ShapesCells · 2025Article
- In Vitro Analysis of Interactions BetweenAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Pulsed Blue Light and Phage Therapy: A Novel Synergistic Bactericide.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Disruption ofMicrobiology (Reading, England) · 2025Article
- A quinolone N-oxide antibiotic selectively targets Neisseria gonorrhoeae via its toxin-antitoxin system.Nature microbiology · 2025Article
- Use of analytical strategies to understand spatial chemical variation in bacterial surface communities.Journal of bacteriology · 2025Review
48 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Bacterial programmed cell death and quorum sensing are direct examples of prokaryote group behaviors, wherein cells coordinate their actions to function cooperatively like one organism for the benefit of the whole culture. We demonstrate here that 2-n-heptyl-4-hydroxyquinoline-N-oxide (HQNO), a Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum-sensing-regulated low-molecular-weight excreted molecule, triggers autolysis by self-perturbing the electron transfer reactions of the cytochrome bc1 complex. HQNO induces specific self-poisoning by disrupting the flow of electrons through the respiratory chain at the cytochrome bc1 complex, causing a leak of reducing equivalents to O2 whereby electrons that would normally be passed to cytochrome c are donated directly to O2. The subsequent mass production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) reduces membrane potential and disrupts membrane integrity, causing bacterial cell autolysis and DNA release. DNA subsequently promotes biofilm formation and increases antibiotic tolerance to beta-lactams, suggesting that HQNO-dependent cell autolysis is advantageous to the bacterial populations. These data identify both a new programmed cell death system and a novel role for HQNO as a critical inducer of biofilm formation and antibiotic tolerance. This newly identified pathway suggests intriguing mechanistic similarities with the initial mitochondrial-mediated steps of eukaryotic apoptosis.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.