Author(s)

Yuhao Xie ¹, Shiyu Lv ¹, Junyan Chen ¹, Zedong Lu ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China

Corresponding Author

Zedong Lu

ABSTRACT

Chlorine disinfection is the most widely used method for microbial control in water treatment; however, some bacteria can survive chlorine exposure and develop chlorine tolerance, the underlying mechanisms of which remain unclear. In this study, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, and Acinetobacter CR26 were selected as model strains to systematically investigate the role of quorum sensing (QS) in chlorine tolerance and to evaluate the potential of quorum quenching (QQ) in enhancing chlorination efficiency. Under 0.5 mg/L free chlorine, the total AHLs in the three strains decreased by 40.8%, 61.1%, and 43.8% within 1.5 min, respectively. However, the chlorine-tolerant strains PAO1 and CR26 exhibited pronounced signal recovery or maintenance, whereas E. coli showed a weak response. Correlation analysis identified C8, C6, and C12-HSL as the dominant signal molecules most closely associated with extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in the three strains, respectively. Inactivation results revealed that chlorine tolerance followed the order of CR26 > PAO1 > E. coli, with maximum log reductions of 1.79, 3.09, and 3.22 at 20 min, respectively. Furthermore, QQ significantly suppressed EPS production and mitigated residual chlorine decay in chlorine-tolerant bacteria. For instance, in CR26, AT500 reduced chlorine decay by approximately 50% at 30 min, while SAH500 decreased EPS from 4.0 to 3.05 mg/L at 20 min and enhanced inactivation efficiency by about 23%. Overall, QS contributes to bacterial chlorine tolerance by regulating EPS-associated extracellular defense, whereas QQ can effectively disrupt this protection and enhance chlorination performance, highlighting its potential as a strategy for controlling chlorine-tolerant bacteria.

KEYWORDS

Free Chlorine Disinfection; Quorum Sensing; Quorum Quenching; Extracellular Polymeric Substances; Chlorine Tolerance

CITE THIS PAPER

Yuhao Xie, Shiyu Lv, Junyan Chen, Zedong Lu. Role of Quorum Sensing in Chlorine Tolerance and Enhancement of Chlorination Efficiency via Quorum Quenching. Journal of Civil Engineering and Urban Planning (2026). Vol. 8, No.1, 72-87. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/jceup.2026.080108.

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