Novel Coumarin Derivatives Inhibit the Quorum Sensing System and Iron Homeostasis as Antibacterial Synergists against <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i>
Jun Liu, Siyu Zhao, Jiayi Hu, Qiu‐Xian Chen, Shu‐Meng Jiao, Hai-Chuan Xiao, Qiang Zhang, Jun Xu, Jianfu Zhao, Haibo Zhou, Junxia Zheng, Pinghua Sun
Abstract
Pseudomonas aeruginosa ( P. aeruginosa ) is well-known to cause biofilm-associated drug resistance and infections that often lead to treatment failure. Herein, we reported a dual-acting antibiofilm strategy by inhibiting both the bacterial quorum sensing system and the iron uptake system. A series of coumarin derivatives were synthesized and evaluated, and compound 4t was identified as the most effective biofilm inhibitor (IC 50 = 3.6 μM). Further mechanistic studies have confirmed that 4t not only inhibits the QS systems but also competes strongly with pyoverdine as an iron chelator, causing an iron deficiency in P. aeruginosa . Additionally, 4t significantly improved the synergistic antibacterial effects of ciprofloxacin and tobramycin by more than 200–1000-fold compared to the single-dose antibiotic treatments. Therefore, our study has shown that 4t is a potentially novel antibacterial synergist candidate to treat bacterial infections.