scholarly journals Multiple Precursor Proteins of Thanatin Isoforms, an Antimicrobial Peptide Associated With the Gut Symbiont of Riptortus pedestris

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junbeom Lee ◽  
Wook Hyun Cha ◽  
Dae-Weon Lee

Thanatin is an antimicrobial peptide (AMP) generated by insects for defense against bacterial infections. In the present study, we performed cDNA cloning of thanatin and found the presence of multiple precursor proteins from the bean bug, Riptortus pedestris. The cDNA sequences encoded 38 precursor proteins, generating 13 thanatin isoforms. In the phylogenetic analysis, thanatin isoforms were categorized into two groups based on the presence of the membrane attack complex/perforin (MACPF) domain. In insect-bacterial symbiosis, specific substances are produced by the immune system of the host insect and are known to modulate the symbiont’s population. Therefore, to determine the biological function of thanatin isoforms in symbiosis, the expression levels of three AMP genes were compared between aposymbiotic insects and symbiotic R. pedestris. The expression levels of the thanatin genes were significantly increased in the M4 crypt, a symbiotic organ, of symbiotic insects upon systemic bacterial injection. Further, synthetic thanatin isoforms exhibited antibacterial activity against gut-colonized Burkholderia symbionts rather than in vitro-cultured Burkholderia cells. Interestingly, the suppression of thanatin genes significantly increased the population of Burkholderia gut symbionts in the M4 crypt under systemic Escherichia coli K12 injection. Overgrown Burkholderia gut symbionts were observed in the hemolymph of host insects and exhibited insecticidal activity. Taken together, these results suggest that thanatin of R. pedestris is a host-derived symbiotic factor and an AMP that controls the population of gut-colonized Burkholderia symbionts.

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abidullah Khan ◽  
Miao Xu ◽  
Tengjiao Wang ◽  
Chuangang You ◽  
Xingang Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Hospital-acquired infections are common in burn patients and are the major contributors of morbidity and mortality. Bacterial infections such as Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) are difficult to treat due to their biofilm formation and rapidly acquiring resistance to antibiotics. This work presents a newly developed hydrogel that has the potential for treating bacterial wound infections. The hydrogel formulation is based on an antimicrobial peptide (AMP), epsilon-poly-l-lysine (EPL) and catechol, which was cross-linked via mussel-inspired chemistry between the amine and phenol groups. In vitro studies showed that EPL-catechol hydrogels possess impressive antimicrobial and antibiofilm properties toward multidrug-resistant A. baumannii (MRAB). In addition, cytotoxicity study with the clonal mouse myoblast cell line (C2C12) revealed the good biocompatibility of this hydrogel. Furthermore, we created a second-degree burn wound on the mice dorsal skin surface followed by contamination with MRAB. Our results showed that the hydrogel significantly reduced the bacterial burden by more than four orders of magnitude in infected burn wounds. Additionally, there was no significant histological alteration with hydrogel application on mice skin. Based on these results, we concluded that EPL-catechol hydrogel is a promising future biomaterial to fight against multidrug-resistant bacterial infections.


Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Rui Zhang ◽  
Xiaobo Fan ◽  
Xinglu Jiang ◽  
Mingyuan Zou ◽  
Han Xiao ◽  
...  

The emergence of drug-resistant bacteria emphasizes the urgent need for novel antibiotics. The antimicrobial peptide TS shows extensive antibacterial activity in vitro and in vivo, especially in gram-negative bacteria; however, its antibacterial mechanism is unclear. Here, we find that TS without hemolytic activity disrupts the integrity of the outer bacterial cell membrane by displacing divalent cations and competitively binding lipopolysaccharides. In addition, the antimicrobial peptide TS can inhibit and kill E. coli by disintegrating the bacteria from within by interacting with bacterial DNA. Thus, antimicrobial peptide TS’s multiple antibacterial mechanisms may not easily induce bacterial resistance, suggesting use as an antibacterial drug to be for combating bacterial infections in the future.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (02.1) ◽  
pp. 14S
Author(s):  
Bassam El-Hafi ◽  
Sari Shawki Rasheed ◽  
Noor A Salloum ◽  
Antoine Abou Fayad ◽  
George F Araj ◽  
...  

Introduction: The range of antimicrobial agents used to treat bacterial infections is becoming limited with the constant increase in antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Several genetic factors underlie AMR, including β-lactamase-encoding genes such as blaCTXM-15 that confers resistance to third-generation cephalosporins, and blaOXA-48, blaNDM-1, and blaKPC-2 that confer resistance to carbapenems. Remaining treatment approaches for such resistant infections include antimicrobial combination therapy and the use of β-lactamase inhibitors. This study assesses the molecular effects of such treatment approaches on antimicrobial resistant Enterobacteriaceae clinical isolates in vitro and in vivo. Methodology: Nine clinical Enterobacteriaceae isolates were included in the study. One harboring blaCTXM-15, one harboring blaOXA-48, one harboring blaKPC-2, two harboring blaNDM-1 and blaCTXM-15, and four harboring blaOXA-48 and blaCTXM-15. Minimal inhibitory concentrations were determined for carbapenems with β-lactamase inhibitors: avibactam, Ca-EDTA, and relebactam. Synergism between antibiotic combinations was determined by double disc diffusion when using colistin with several antibiotics. In vitro and in vivo gene expression levels were done on these combinations with and without inhibitors. Results: The use of meropenem, imipenem, and ertapenem with the selected β-lactamase inhibitors restored isolate susceptibility in 100%, 87.5%, and 25% of the cases, respectively. Antimicrobial synergism was mostly detected between colistin and meropenem, fosfomycin, or tigecycline. Survival studies revealed the survival of most mice receiving antimicrobial combination therapy with inhibitors as compared to the controls. Overall gene expression levels of resistance genes were variable depending on treatment. Conclusions: The threat of antibiotic resistant bacterial infections remains viable; however, different approaches to therapy are available.


2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (10) ◽  
pp. 6233-6240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Odel Soren ◽  
Karoline Sidelmann Brinch ◽  
Dipesh Patel ◽  
Yingjun Liu ◽  
Alexander Liu ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe spread of antibiotic resistance among Gram-negative bacteria is a serious clinical threat, and infections with these organisms are a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Traditional novel drug development inevitably leads to the emergence of new resistant strains, rendering the new drugs ineffective. Therefore, reviving the therapeutic potentials of existing antibiotics represents an attractive novel strategy. Novicidin, a novel cationic antimicrobial peptide, is effective against Gram-negative bacteria. Here, we investigated novicidin as a possible antibiotic enhancer. The actions of novicidin in combination with rifampin, ceftriaxone, or ceftazidime were investigated against 94 antibiotic-resistant clinical Gram-negative isolates and 7 strains expressing New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-1. Using the checkerboard method, novicidin combined with rifampin showed synergy with >70% of the strains, reducing the MICs significantly. The combination of novicidin with ceftriaxone or ceftazidime was synergistic against 89.7% of the ceftriaxone-resistant strains and 94.1% of the ceftazidime-resistant strains. Synergistic interactions were confirmed using time-kill studies with multiple strains. Furthermore, novicidin increased the postantibiotic effect when combined with rifampin or ceftriaxone. Membrane depolarization assays revealed that novicidin alters the cytoplasmic membrane potential of Gram-negative bacteria.In vitrotoxicology tests showed novicidin to have low hemolytic activity and no detrimental effect on cell cultures. We demonstrated that novicidin strongly rejuvenates the therapeutic potencies of ceftriaxone or ceftazidime against resistant Gram-negative bacteriain vitro. In addition, novicidin boosted the activity of rifampin. This strategy can have major clinical implications in our fight against antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.


Author(s):  
Nidhi Sharma ◽  
Arti Singh ◽  
Ruchika Sharma ◽  
Anoop Kumar

Aim: The aim of the study was to find out the role of auranofin as a promising broad spectrum antibacterial agent. Methods: In-vitro assays (Percentage growth retardation, Bacterial growth kinetics, Biofilm formation assay) and In-silico study (Molegro virtual docker (MVD) version 6.0 and Molecular operating environment (MOE) version 2008.10 software). Results: The in vitro assays have shown that auranofin has good antibacterial activity against Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial strains. Further, auranofin has shown synergistic activity in combination with ampicillin against S. aureus and B. subtilis whereas in combination with neomycin has just shown additive effect against E. coli, P. aeruginosa and B. pumilus. In vivo results have revealed that auranofin alone and in combination with standard drugs significantly decreased the bioburden in zebrafish infection model as compared to control. The molecular docking study have shown good interaction of auranofin with penicillin binding protein (2Y2M), topoisomerase (3TTZ), UDP-3-O-[3- hydroxymyristoyl] N-acetylglucosaminedeacetylase (3UHM), cell adhesion protein (4QRK), β-lactamase (5CTN) and arylsulphatase (1HDH) enzyme as that of reference ligand which indicate multimodal mechanism of action of auranofin. Finally, MTT assay has shown non-cytotoxic effect of auranofin. Conclusion: In conclusion, auranofin in combination with existing antibiotics could be developed as a broad spectrum antibacterial agent; however, further studies are required to confirm its safety and efficacy. This study provides possibility of use of auranofin apart from its established therapeutic indication in combination with existing antibiotics to tackle the problem of resistance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 376-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sachin Jangra ◽  
Gayathri Purushothaman ◽  
Kapil Juvale ◽  
Srimadhavi Ravi ◽  
Aishwarya Menon ◽  
...  

Background & Objective:Helicobacter pylori infection is one of the primary causes of peptic ulcer followed by gastric cancer in the world population. Due to increased occurrences of multi-drug resistance to the currently available antibiotics, there is an urgent need for a new class of drugs against H. pylori. Inosine 5′-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), a metabolic enzyme plays a significant role in cell proliferation and cell growth. It catalyses guanine nucleotide synthesis. IMPDH enzyme has been exploited as a target for antiviral, anticancer and immunosuppressive drugs. Recently, bacterial IMPDH has been studied as a potential target for treating bacterial infections. Differences in the structural and kinetic parameters of the eukaryotic and prokaryotic IMPDH make it possible to target bacterial enzyme selectively.Methods:In the current work, we have synthesised and studied the effect of substituted 3-aryldiazenyl indoles on Helicobacter pylori IMPDH (HpIMPDH) activity. The synthesised molecules were examined for their inhibitory potential against recombinant HpIMPDH.Results:In this study, compounds 1 and 2 were found to be the most potent inhibitors amongst the database with IC50 of 0.8 ± 0.02µM and 1 ± 0.03 µM, respectively.Conclusion:When compared to the most potent known HpIMPDH inhibitor molecule C91, 1 was only four-fold less potent and can be a good lead for further development of selective and potent inhibitors of HpIMPDH.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 192-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Talita Odriane Custodio Leite ◽  
Juliana Silva Novais ◽  
Beatriz Lima Cosenza de Carvalho ◽  
Vitor Francisco Ferreira ◽  
Leonardo Alves Miceli ◽  
...  

Background: According to the World Health Organization, antimicrobial resistance is one of the most important public health threats of the 21st century. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of antimicrobial agents with new mechanism of action, especially those capable of evading known resistance mechanisms. Objective: We described the synthesis, in vitro antimicrobial evaluation, and in silico analysis of a series of 1H-indole-4,7-dione derivatives. Methods: The new series of 1H-indole-4,7-diones was prepared with good yield by using a copper(II)- mediated reaction between bromoquinone and β-enamino ketones bearing alkyl or phenyl groups attached to the nitrogen atom. The antimicrobial potential of indole derivatives was assessed. Molecular docking studies were also performed using AutoDock 4.2 for Windows. Characterization of all compounds was confirmed by one- and two-dimensional NMR techniques 1H and 13C NMR spectra [1H, 13C – APT, 1H x 1H – COSY, HSQC and HMBC], IR and mass spectrometry analysis. Results: Several indolequinone compounds showed effective antimicrobial profile against Grampositive (MIC = 16 µg.mL-1) and Gram-negative bacteria (MIC = 8 µg.mL-1) similar to antimicrobials current on the market. The 3-acetyl-1-(2,5-dimethylphenyl)-1H-indole-4,7-dione derivative exhibited an important effect against different biofilm stages formed by a serious hospital life-threatening resistant strain of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). A hemocompatibility profile analysis based on in vitro hemolysis assays revealed the low toxicity effects of this new series. Indeed, in silico studies showed a good pharmacokinetics and toxicological profiles for all indolequinone derivatives, reinforcing their feasibility to display a promising oral bioavailability. An elucidation of the promising indolequinone derivatives binding mode was achieved, showing interactions with important sites to biological activity of S. aureus DNA gyrase. These results highlighted 3-acetyl-1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1Hindole- 4,7-dione derivative as broad-spectrum antimicrobial prototype to be further explored for treating bacterial infections. Conclusion: The highly substituted indolequinones were obtained in moderate to good yields. The pharmacological study indicated that these compounds should be exploited in the search for a leading substance in a project aimed at obtaining new antimicrobials effective against Gram-negative bacteria.


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