Shoot the messages not the messengers

Microbes use quorum sensing (QS) as a mechanism to regulate host colonization and virulence in the rhizosphere. Various Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria engage in quorum sensing as a mode of communication to inflict pathogenicity on hosts. Of late, the use of various microbial biocontrol agents to restrict pathogenic fungi and bacteria has gained some pace. Although, not much is known about direct antagonistic mechanisms adapted by various biocontrol agents on pathogens, it still represents a sustainable technique to control pathogenesis. Crepin et al. (2012) in this issue of Plant Soil address, for the first time, the question of regulating quorum sensing (QS) by quorum-quenching (QQ) techniques. Crepin et al. show that a rhizosphere bacteria Rhodococcus erythropolis catabolizes the N-acylhomoserine lactones (NAHLs) produced by Pectobacterium atrosepticum, thus attenuating its virulence. Their experimental results strongly support the involvement of interbacterial communication in the rhizosphere. This knowledge is of crucial importance for putting into practice sustainable disease-protection strategies for biocontrol technologies.