RESUMO
Quorum sensing (QS), which controls the survival and virulence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, including the formation of biofilm, is considered to be a new target to overcome pathogens. The aim of this study was to identify new QS inhibitors against P. aeruginosa and provide potential treatments for clinical infections. In this study, 25 compounds were isolated from Plumula nelumbini. Among these compounds, C25 showed the most significant biofilm inhibition activity, reaching 44.63% at 100 µM without inhibiting bacterial growth. Furthermore, C25 showed significant inhibition activity of rhamnolipid, pyocyanin, and elastase. Further mechanistic studies have confirmed that C25 could downregulate key genes in the QS system, including lasI, lasR, lasA, lasB, and pqsR, and Molecular docking studies have shown that C25 can bind to the active sites of the LasR and PqsR receptors. The present study suggests that C25 is a promising QS inhibitor for treating P. aeruginosa infections.