Abstract: Bacterial biofilm is a multicellular community formed by bacteria attached to the surface of living or non-living objects. It has strong resistance to mechanical interference, host defense and antibiotics, and is the main cause of chronic infections. Quorum sensing (QS) is a phenomenon in which the expression of specific bacterial genes is regulated by signal molecules related to population density. It plays a vital role in regulating the formation of bacterial biofilms. QS inhibitors (QSI) interfere with quorum sensing, thereby providing a method for controlling the harm of bacterial biofilms. In this article, we take Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli (E. coli) as examples to review the important role of QS in regulating the formation of bacterial biofilms, and we demonstrate that QSI can interfere with the formation of bacterial biofilms by inhibiting the synthesis of signal molecules, enzymatically hydrolyzing signal molecules and interfering with signal molecules binding to receptors, aiming to open up a new path for the prevention and treatment of chronic infections caused by bacterial biofilms.

Key words: bacterial biofilm, quorum sensing, quorum sensing inhibitors, regulation, interference