Bacteria typically live in dense communities where they are surrounded by other species and compete for a limited amount of resources. These competitive interactions can induce defensive responses that also protect against antimicrobials, potentially complicating the antimicrobial treatment of pathogens residing in polymicrobial consortia. Therefore, we evaluate the potential of alternative antivirulence strategies that quench this response to competition. We test three competition quenching approaches: (i) interference with the attack mechanism of surrounding competitors, (ii) inhibition of the stress response systems that detect competition, and (iii) reduction of the overall level of competition in the community by lowering the population density. We show that either strategy can prevent the induction of antimicrobial tolerance of Salmonella Typhimurium in response to competitors. Competition quenching strategies can thus reduce tolerance of pathogens residing in polymicrobial communities and could contribute to the improved eradication of these pathogens via traditional methods.

细菌通常生活在密集的群落中，被其他物种包围并争夺有限的资源。这些竞争性相互作用可以诱导防御反应，从而防止抗菌药物的侵害，从而可能使多微生物群落中的病原体的抗菌治疗变得复杂。因此，我们评估了替代抗毒策略的潜力，以抑制这种对竞争的反应。我们测试了三种竞争抑制方法：（i）干扰周围竞争对手的攻击机制，（ii）抑制检测竞争的应激反应系统，以及（iii）通过减少人口来降低社区的整体竞争水平密度。我们表明，任何一种策略都可以阻止鼠伤寒沙门氏菌针对竞争对手的抗生素耐受性的诱导。因此，竞争抑制策略可以降低多微生物群落中病原体的耐受性，并有助于通过传统方法更好地根除这些病原体。