Aim: To study the influence of plant volatiles, bioactives and synthetic antibiotics on the attenuation of the quorum sensing (QS)-regulated virulence factors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Materials & methods: QS inhibition; the QS-regulated virulence factors pyocyanin, hemolysin, elastase, protease, alginate and pyochelin; and motility phenotypes were performed at sub-MIC to check the attenuation effect of 24 agents on the virulence of P. aeruginosa. Results: Eighteen out of 24 assayed compounds exhibited anti-QS activity and reduced the production of all virulence factors. Cinnamaldehyde, zingerone and lavender oil exhibited a significant reduction in motility phenotypes. Conclusion: Natural phytomolecules as a whole or their bioactives could be used to develop antivirulence drugs after in vivo evaluation.

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Vol. 17, No. 10

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Received 31 July 2021

Accepted 8 April 2022

Published online 22 April 2022

Published in print July 2022

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank BH Iglewski for providing the standard strain PAO1 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was done with the financial support of DST-SERB funded project, New Delhi, India (vide no. EMR/2017/003098), to the first author. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

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