Polyphenolic extract from Rosa rugosa tea inhibits bacterial quorum sensing and biofilm formation

Quorum sensing (QS) is an intercellular signaling and gene regulatory mechanism, which is implicated in bacterial pathogenicity and food spoilage. Therefore, blocking bacterial QS system may prevent QS-controlled phenotypes responsible for food spoilage. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the anti-biofilm and quorum sensing inhibitory potentials of Rosa rugosa tea polyphenol (RTP) extract, which is rich in polyphenols (87.52%) and flavonoids (61.03%). The RTP specifically inhibited QS-controlled violacein production in Chromobacterium violaceum 026 with 87.56% reduction without significantly affecting its growth. Moreover, RTP exhibited inhibition in swarming motility (84.90% and 78.03%) and biofilm formation (67.02% and 72.90%) of Escherichia coli K-12 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 in a concentration-dependent manner, respectively. These findings strongly suggest that RTP potentially could be developed as a new QS inhibitor and/or anti-biofilm agent to enhance the shelf life and increase food safety.