Patent ID: 7326542

Claim:
A method for identifying a compound that modulates the response of a bacterial strain to a first autoinducer, comprising: obtaining a bacterial strain that produces a detectable signal in response to the first autoinducer which is not an acyl-homoserine lactone, the first autoinducer being capable of interacting with the Vibrio harveyi LuxQ protein thereby inducing expression of a Vibrio harveyi operon comprising the luxCDABE genes, wherein the bacterial strain has a first genetic alteration in the coding region of the luxS gene that inhibits production of the first autoinducer, wherein the genetic alteration in the luxS gene is an alteration introduced into a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:1-9; measuring the responses of the bacterial strain when contacted with the first autoinducer in the presence and absence of a test compound and; identifying that the test compound modulates the response of the bacterial strain to the first autoinducer.