Quorum quenching (QQ), the obstruction of quorum sensing, is the most attractive way to break down the N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHL) molecules. This work was focused at isolating AHL degrading bacteria from gastrointestinal tract of Oreochromis niloticus, with abilities appropriate for use as probiotic in aquaculture. The presence of an autoinducer inactivation (aiiA) homolog gene and AHL inactivation assay showed that Enterococcus faecium QQ12, which was one among the 20 isolates, could rapidly degrade synthetic C6-HSL in vitro and hampered violacein production by Chromobacterium violaceum. It had excellent biodegrading ability of natural N-AHL produced by Aeromonas hydrophila, suggesting that it can be used as a potential quencher bacterium for disrupting the virulence of A. hydrophila. It was susceptible to all the five antibiotics tried out. The isolate grew well at pH 3.0-7.0, was resistant to high level of bile salts (0-0.9%) and 0.5% of phenol. QQ12 also exhibited high degree of auto-aggregation and co-aggregation, confirming that it possessed good probiotic attributes. Goldfish fed diet incorporated with 108 and 1010 CFU g-1 of the QQ12 for 30 days showed 76.66-86.66% survival when challenged with A. hydrophila. The study indicates that Enterococcus faecium QQ12 could be used as a non-antibiotic feed additive in aquaculture to control bacterial diseases.
Keywords: Enterococcus faecium; N-acyl-homoserine lactones; Probiotic; Quorum quenching; Quorum sensing.