Transcriptome of Vibrio vulnificus biofilm treated and untreated with QStatin, an inhibitor of the quorum-sensing master regulator SmcR. Vibrio vulnificus MO6-24/O

Bacterial cell-to-cell communication, known as quorum-sensing (QS), is involved in diverse physiological processes. The SmcR protein of the human pathogen Vibrio vulnificus is a master transcriptional regulator that controls expression of QS regulons associated with pathogenesis, making it an attractive therapeutic target for life-threatening Vibrio infections. QStatin [1-(5-bromothiophene-2-sulfonyl)-1H-pyrazole] is a selective inhibitor of SmcR that binds to the putative ligand-binding pocket of SmcR. Binding of QStatin to SmcR disrupts the ability of SmcR to regulate transcription. Here, we analyzed transcriptomes of wild type and smcR mutant biofilms treated and untreated with QStatin to reveal the effects of QStatin on expression of the SmcR regulon.