Fatty acids (FAs) have emerged as a potential alternative to conventional antibiotics. Since many microbes respond differently to a variety of natural and synthetic FAs, substantial efforts have been made to understand the unique features of FAs that function as antimicrobials at high doses and biofilm inhibitors at low doses. Here, we provide an overview of the emerging antibiofilm properties of FAs and their relations to virulence and quorum sensing, such as diffusible signal factors (DSFs), acyl-homoserine lactones, and autoinducer-2 systems. Several FAs mimic DSFs and control motility, fimbriae, hyphae, and biofilm development as well as virulence characteristics of diverse microbes. The findings of FAs as antibiofilm and antivirulence agents will provide a new paradigm to cope with recalcitrant pathogens.

脂肪酸（FAs）已经成为传统抗生素的潜在替代品。由于许多微生物对多种天然和合成FA的反应不同，因此已做出大量努力来了解FA的独特特征，这些FA在高剂量时起抗菌作用，在低剂量时起生物膜抑制剂的作用。在这里，我们提供了FA的新兴抗生物膜特性及其与毒力和群体感应的关系的概述，例如扩散信号因子（DSF），酰基高丝氨酸内酯和autoinducer-2系统。几种FA模仿DSF，并控制各种微生物的运动性，菌毛，菌丝和生物膜发育以及毒力特征。FAs作为抗生物膜和抗毒剂的发现将为应对顽固性病原体提供新的范例。