(Z)-3-oxo-N-[(3S)-2-oxooxolan-3-yl]hexadec-11-enamide

Quorum sensing is a regulatory system used by bacteria for controlling gene expression in response to increasing cell density. This regulatory process manifests itself with a variety of phenotypes including biofilm formation and virulence factor production. Coordinated gene expression is achieved by the production, release, and detection of small diffusible signal molecules called autoinducers. The N-acylated homoserine lactones (AHLs) comprise one such class of autoinducers, each of which generally consists of a fatty acid coupled with homoserine lactone (HSL). Regulation of bacterial quorum sensing signaling systems to inhibit pathogenesis represents a new approach to antimicrobial therapy in the treatment of infectious diseases. AHLs vary in acyl group length (C₄-C₁₈), in the substitution of C3 (hydrogen, hydroxyl, or oxo group), and in the presence or absence of one or more carbon-carbon double bonds in the fatty acid chain. These differences confer signal specificity through the affinity of transcriptional regulators of the LuxR family. An unspecified positional and geometric isomer of 3-oxo-C16:1-(L)-HSL is produced by the F2/5 strain of A. vitis, the bacterium responsible for grape crown gall and its resulting loss of agricultural productivity.