Quorum sensing: its roles in mediating biofilm and viable but non-culturable state formation, and strategies for the prevention and control of foodborne bacteria via quorum quenching

Foodborne bacteria produce biofilms and their viable but non-culturable (VBNC) formation, can affect food quality and safety. Studies have shown that these characteristics are regulated by the bacterial quorum sensing (QS) system. Quenching the QS system of foodborne bacteria and blocking the expression of the corresponding genes may be an effective way to improve food quality and safety. Therefore, this article reviews the QS systems for foodborne bacteria, the regulatory mechanisms of QS systems in biofilm and VBNC formation and resuscitation, the research progress on quorum sensing inhibitors (QSIs) for Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, and introduces QSIs from various sources. In addition, we have also summarized the current research issues on QS regulation of biofilms and VBNC formation. The systematic study of the QS phenomenon of foodborne bacteria in practical situations, the mechanism of bacterial QS cooperation-cheating, the screening of novel and highly active QSIs, the combination of QSIs and other technologies to improve their bioavailability, and the regulatory network between biofilm and VBNC formation and resuscitation are research directions that need to be paid attention to in the future.