Piper betle L. leaf extracts inhibit quorum sensing of shrimp pathogen Vibrio harveyi and protect Penaeus vannamei postlarvae against bacterial infection

Vibriosis, including the luminescent shrimp disease and acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND), with Vibrio harveyi as one of their causative agents, is a major shrimp disease causing huge economic losses in the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries. It is induced through the formation of biofilm as a result of bacterial cell-to-cell communication or quorum sensing (QS). Hence, this mechanism may be used as a target for bioactive compounds in controlling V. harveyi infections in shrimp. In this study, crude ethanolic extract (CE) and crude alkaloids (CA) from Ikmo (Piper betle L.), a plant native to Southeast Asia, were observed to significantly (p