scholarly journals Symbiotic Plant Peptides EliminateCandida albicansBothIn Vitroand in an Epithelial Infection Model and Inhibit the Proliferation of Immortalized Human Cells

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilla Ördögh ◽  
Andrea Vörös ◽  
István Nagy ◽  
Éva Kondorosi ◽  
Attila Kereszt

The increasing number of multidrug-resistant microbes now emerging necessitates the identification of novel antimicrobial agents. Plants produce a great variety of antimicrobial peptides including hundreds of small, nodule-specific cysteine-rich NCR peptides that, in the legumeMedicago truncatula, govern the differentiation of endosymbiotic nitrogen fixing bacteria and,in vitro, can display potent antibacterial activities. In this study, the potential candidacidal activity of 19 NCR peptides was investigated. Cationic NCR peptides having an isoelectric point above 9 were efficient in killingCandida albicans, one of the most common fungal pathogens of humans. None of the tested NCR peptides were toxic for immortalized human epithelial cells at concentrations that effectively killed the fungus; however, at higher concentrations, some of them inhibited the division of the cells. Furthermore, the cationic peptides successfully inhibitedC. albicansinduced human epithelial cell death in anin vitrococulture model. These results highlight the therapeutic potential of cationic NCR peptides in the treatment of candidiasis.

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 401-407
Author(s):  
Dan Lupascu ◽  
Lenuta Profire ◽  
Maria Apotrosoaei ◽  
Cristina Tuchilus ◽  
Ioana Mirela Vasincu ◽  
...  

Antimicrobial resistance constitutes a topical subject and it is one of the major threats to public health. According to statistics, the incidence of multidrug-resistant microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi and protozoa has increased in the last decades and it continues to spread. Therefore, the development of novel antimicrobial agents to combat drug-resistant infections is very important, among other research directions in this field. Quinoline ring is a very interesting structure for researchers because of its diverse biological properties (antimicrobial, anticancer, anticonvulsant, antiinflamatory and cardiovascular). On the other hand several studies showed good antibacterial activity (including anti-Pseudomonas effects) and antifungal properties of rutin or vegetal species with a high flavonoids (especially rutin) concentration. Based on the above considerations, eight novel rutin derivatives carrying 4- and 8-aminoquinoline moiety were designed, synthesized and characterized by FTIR, 1H NMR and elemental analysis. All compounds were evaluated for their in vitro antimicrobial activities against representative Gram-positive, Gram-negative and fungal pathogens. The results indicated that all rutin derivatives exhibited good antibacterial activities, similar to ciprofloxacin.


2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirill V. Ovchinnikov ◽  
Christian Kranjec ◽  
Tage Thorstensen ◽  
Harald Carlsen ◽  
Dzung B. Diep

ABSTRACT The emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens has caused a serious worldwide problem in infection treatment in recent years. One of the pathogens is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which is a major cause of skin and soft tissue infections. Alternative strategies and novel sources of antimicrobials to solve antibiotic resistance problems are urgently needed. In this study, we explored the potential of two broad-spectrum bacteriocins, garvicin KS and micrococcin P1, in skin infection treatments. The two bacteriocins acted synergistically with each other and with penicillin G in killing MRSA in vitro. The MICs of the antimicrobials in the three-component mixture were 40 ng/ml for micrococcin P1 and 2 μg/ml for garvicin KS and penicillin G, which were 62, 16, and at least 1,250 times lower than their MICs when assessed individually. To assess its therapeutic potential further, we challenged the three-component formulation in a murine skin infection model with the multidrug-resistant luciferase-tagged MRSA Xen31, a strain derived from the clinical isolate S. aureus ATCC 33591. Using the tagged-luciferase activity as a reporter for the presence of Xen31 in wounds, we demonstrated that the three-component formulation was efficient in eradicating the pathogen from treated wounds. Furthermore, compared to Fucidin cream, which is an antibiotic commonly used in skin infection treatments, our formulation was also superior in terms of preventing resistance development.


2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 2113-2121 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Malik ◽  
O. N. Silva ◽  
I. C. M. Fensterseifer ◽  
L. Y. Chan ◽  
R. J. Clark ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTStaphylococcus aureusis a virulent pathogen that is responsible for a wide range of superficial and invasive infections. Its resistance to existing antimicrobial drugs is a global problem, and the development of novel antimicrobial agents is crucial. Antimicrobial peptides from natural resources offer potential as new treatments against staphylococcal infections. In the current study, we have examined the antimicrobial properties of peptides isolated from anuran skin secretions and cyclized synthetic analogues of these peptides. The structures of the peptides were elucidated by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, revealing high structural and sequence similarity with each other and with sunflower trypsin inhibitor 1 (SFTI-1). SFTI-1 is an ultrastable cyclic peptide isolated from sunflower seeds that has subnanomolar trypsin inhibitory activity, and this scaffold offers pharmaceutically relevant characteristics. The five anuran peptides were nonhemolytic and noncytotoxic and had trypsin inhibitory activities similar to that of SFTI-1. They demonstrated weakin vitroinhibitory activities againstS. aureus, but several had strong antibacterial activities againstS. aureusin anin vivomurine wound infection model. pYR, an immunomodulatory peptide fromRana sevosa, was the most potent, with complete bacterial clearance at 3 mg · kg−1. Cyclization of the peptides improved their stability but was associated with a concomitant decrease in antimicrobial activity. In summary, these anuran peptides are promising as novel therapeutic agents for treating infections from a clinically resistant pathogen.


1998 ◽  
Vol 42 (12) ◽  
pp. 3251-3255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve M. Swaney ◽  
Hiroyuki Aoki ◽  
M. Clelia Ganoza ◽  
Dean L. Shinabarger

ABSTRACT The oxazolidinones represent a new class of antimicrobial agents which are active against multidrug-resistant staphylococci, streptococci, and enterococci. Previous studies have demonstrated that oxazolidinones inhibit bacterial translation in vitro at a step preceding elongation but after the charging ofN-formylmethionine to the initiator tRNA molecule. The event that occurs between these two steps is termed initiation. Initiation of protein synthesis requires the simultaneous presence of N-formylmethionine-tRNA, the 30S ribosomal subunit, mRNA, GTP, and the initiation factors IF1, IF2, and IF3. An initiation complex assay measuring the binding of [3H]N-formylmethionyl-tRNA to ribosomes in response to mRNA binding was used in order to investigate the mechanism of oxazolidinone action. Linezolid inhibited initiation complex formation with either the 30S or the 70S ribosomal subunits fromEscherichia coli. In addition, complex formation withStaphylococcus aureus 70S tight-couple ribosomes was inhibited by linezolid. Linezolid did not inhibit the independent binding of either mRNA or N-formylmethionyl-tRNA toE. coli 30S ribosomal subunits, nor did it prevent the formation of the IF2–N-formylmethionyl-tRNA binary complex. The results demonstrate that oxazolidinones inhibit the formation of the initiation complex in bacterial translation systems by preventing formation of theN-formylmethionyl-tRNA–ribosome–mRNA ternary complex.


2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (10) ◽  
pp. 857-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria S. Stietz ◽  
Christina Lopez ◽  
Osasumwen Osifo ◽  
Marcelo E. Tolmasky ◽  
Silvia T. Cardona

There are hundreds of essential genes in multidrug-resistant bacterial genomes, but only a few of their products are exploited as antibacterial targets. An example is the electron transfer flavoprotein (ETF), which is required for growth and viability in Burkholderia cenocepacia. Here, we evaluated ETF as an antibiotic target for Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc). Depletion of the bacterial ETF during infection of Caenorhabditis elegans significantly extended survival of the nematodes, proving that ETF is essential for survival of B. cenocepacia in this host model. In spite of the arrest in respiration in ETF mutants, the inhibition of etf expression did not increase the formation of persister cells, when treated with high doses of ciprofloxacin or meropenem. To test if etf translation could be inhibited by RNA interference, antisense oligonucleotides that target the etfBA operon were synthesized. One antisense oligonucleotide was effective in inhibiting etfB translation in vitro but not in vivo, highlighting the challenge of reduced membrane permeability for the design of drugs against B. cenocepacia. This work contributes to the validation of ETF of B. cenocepacia as a target for antibacterial therapy and demonstrates the utility of a C. elegans liquid killing assay to validate gene essentiality in an in vivo infection model.


Author(s):  
Iordanis Kesisoglou ◽  
Brianna M. Eales ◽  
Kimberly R. Ledesma ◽  
Paul R. Merlau ◽  
Vincent H. Tam ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Na Li ◽  
Yigang Zeng ◽  
Rong Bao ◽  
Tongyu Zhu ◽  
Demeng Tan ◽  
...  

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a dominant cause of community-acquired and nosocomial infections, specifically among immunocompromised individuals. The increasing occurrence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolates has significantly impacted the effectiveness of antimicrobial agents. As antibiotic resistance is becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide, the use of bacteriophages to treat pathogenic bacterial infections has recently gained attention. Elucidating the details of phage-bacteria interactions will provide insights into phage biology and the better development of phage therapy. In this study, a total of 22 K. pneumoniae isolates were assessed for their genetic and phenotypic relatedness by multi-locus sequence typing (MLST), endonuclease S1 nuclease pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (S1-PFGE), and in vitro antibiotic susceptibility testing. In addition, the beta-lactamase gene (blaKPC) was characterized to determine the spread and outbreak of K. pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)-producing enterobacterial pathogens. Using these ST11 carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae isolates, three phages (NL_ZS_1, NL_ZS_2, and NL_ZS_3) from the family of Podoviridae were isolated and characterized to evaluate the application of lytic phages against the MDR K. pneumoniae isolates. In vitro inhibition assays with three phages and K. pneumoniae strain ZS15 demonstrated the strong lytic potential of the phages, however, followed by the rapid growth of phage-resistant and phage-sensitive mutants, suggesting several anti-phage mechanisms had developed in the host populations. Together, this data adds more comprehensive knowledge to known phage biology and further emphasizes their complexity and future challenges to overcome prior to using phages for controlling this important MDR bacterium.


Author(s):  
Zohor Mohammad Mahdi Alzhrani ◽  
Mohammad Mahboob Alam ◽  
Syed Nazreen

Background: The frequent uses of antimicrobial agents to treat infections in diabetic patients make them more drug resistance than non diabetic patients which accounts for higher mortality rate of diabetic patients. Therefore, it is a necessity today to synthesize new drugs with dual mode of action as antidiabetic and antibacterial agents. In the present work, new derivatives containing thiazolidinedione and 1,3,4-oxadiaozle have been synthesized and screened for PPAR-γ and antibacterial activities. Methods: Compound 5-12 have been synthesized from 2-methoxy benzaldehyde and thiazolidinedione and characterized using different spectroscopic techniques such as IR, NMR and mass spectrometry. These compounds were tested for in vitro PPAR-γ transactivation, PPAR-γ gene expression and antibacterial activities. Finally molecular docking was carried out to see the binding interactions of molecules with the target protein. Results: All the compounds follow Lipinski rule suggesting the synthesized derivatives have good drug likeness properties. Compound 11 and 12 exhibited promising PPAR-γ transactivation with 73.69% and 76.50%, respectively as well as showed significant antibacterial activity with comparable MIC of 3.12 μg/disc to standard drug amoxicillin. The docking result was found to be in consistent with the in vitro PPAR-γ transactivation results. Conclusion: Compounds 11 and 12 can be further investigated as lead molecules for the development of new and effective antidiabetic and antibacterial agents.


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