The present invention relates to isolated nucleic acid molecules encoding a bacterial autoinactivation protein and methods for increasing disease resistance and preventing or reducing bacterial damage in plants and animals. The nucleic acid that encodes the bacterial autoinducer inactivation protein can be introduced into a cell so that the bacterial autoinducer inactivation protein is expressed by the plant or animal. The nucleic acid may confer resistance to disease where the expression of pathogenic genes are regulated by autoinducers.