scholarly journals Anti-Planktonic and Anti-Biofilm Properties of Pentacyclic Triterpenes—Asiatic Acid and Ursolic Acid as Promising Antibacterial Future Pharmaceuticals

Biomolecules ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 98
Author(s):  
Zuzanna Sycz ◽  
Dorota Tichaczek-Goska ◽  
Dorota Wojnicz

Due to the ever-increasing number of multidrug-resistant bacteria, research concerning plant-derived compounds with antimicrobial mechanisms of action has been conducted. Pentacyclic triterpenes, which have a broad spectrum of medicinal properties, are one of such groups. Asiatic acid (AA) and ursolic acid (UA), which belong to this group, exhibit diverse biological activities that include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, and immunostimulatory. Some of these articles usually contain only a short section describing the antibacterial effects of AA or UA. Therefore, our review article aims to provide the reader with a broader understanding of the activity of these acids against pathogenic bacteria. The bacteria in the human body can live in the planktonic form and create a biofilm structure. Therefore, we found it valuable to present the action of AA and UA on both planktonic and biofilm cultures. The article also presents mechanisms of the biological activity of these substances against microorganisms.

2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (11) ◽  
pp. 865-879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayman El-Shibiny ◽  
Salma El-Sahhar

Since their discovery in 1915, bacteriophages have been used to treat bacterial infections in animals and humans because of their unique ability to infect their specific bacterial hosts without affecting other bacterial populations. The research carried out in this field throughout the 20th century, largely in Georgia, part of USSR and Poland, led to the establishment of phage therapy protocols. However, the discovery of penicillin and sulfonamide antibiotics in the Western World during the 1930s was a setback in the advancement of phage therapy. The misuse of antibiotics has reduced their efficacy in controlling pathogens and has led to an increase in the number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. As an alternative to antibiotics, bacteriophages have become a topic of interest with the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria, which are a threat to public health. Recent studies have indicated that bacteriophages can be used indirectly to detect pathogenic bacteria or directly as biocontrol agents. Moreover, they can be used to develop new molecules for clinical applications, vaccine production, drug design, and in the nanomedicine field via phage display.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 956-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
DIAH AYUNINGRUM ◽  
RHESI KRISTIANA ◽  
AYUNDA AINUN NISA ◽  
SEPTHY KUSUMA RADJASA ◽  
SAKTI IMAM MUCHLISSIN ◽  
...  

Abstract. Ayuningrum D, Kristiana R, Nisa AA, Radjasa SK, Muchlissin SI, Radjasa OK, Sabdono A, Trianto A. 2019. Bacteria associated with tunicate, Polycarpa aurata, from Lease Sea, Maluku, Indonesia exhibiting anti-multidrug resistant bacteria. Biodiversitas 20: 956-964. Tunicate is a rich secondary metabolites producer with various biological activities whether as an original producer or produced by the associated microorganisms. In this study, a total of 11 tunicate specimens were identified as Polycarpa aurata with four color variations based on morphological characteristic and COI gene identification and BLAST analysis. The P. aurata associated-bacteria were isolated and tested for antimicrobial activity against multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria. A total of 86 axenic isolates were successfully purified. Furthermore, nine isolates (10.5%) exhibited antibacterial activity on preliminary screening. Nine prospective isolates were fermented in respective medium (Zobell 2216, modified M1 or modified ISP2 media) then extracted using ethyl acetate. The ethyl acetate extracts from liquid fermentation were tested against MDR Escherichia coli, MDR Bacillus cereus, Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Methicillin-Sensitive and Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA). As a result, seven isolates (8.1%) still retained the activity at the extract concentration 150 µg/disk. Molecular analysis based on 16S rDNA sequencing revealed the most active isolates, TSB 47, TSC 10 and TSB 34 identified as Bacillus tropicus, Vibrio alginolyticus and Virgibacillus massiliensis, with BLAST homology 99%.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liping Li ◽  
Francesca Short ◽  
Karl Hassan ◽  
Varsha Naidu ◽  
Alaska Pokhrel ◽  
...  

Abstract Biocides, such as antiseptics and disinfectants, are used ubiquitously for hygiene in households and for life-saving infection control in hospitals. An increasing concern is that the widespread use of biocides may contribute to the emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria. We performed transposon directed insertion site sequencing (TraDIS) to identify genes and key cellular pathways of the multidrug resistant nosocomial pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii, that affect host fitness during exposure to a panel of ten structurally-diverse and clinically-relevant biocides: silver nitrate, benzalkonium, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), chlorhexidine, triclosan, chloroxylenol, polyvidone iodine, bleach, glutaraldehyde and ethanol. Multiple genes encoding proteins localised either in the cell envelope or in the cytoplasm were shown to affect biocide susceptibility. These proteins are involved in multiple processes including fatty acid biogenesis, multidrug efflux, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, cell respiration and cell division, suggesting that these biocides may have intracellular targets in addition to their known effects on the cell envelope. Based on the importance of cell respiration genes for A. baumannii fitness on biocides, we proposed and confirmed that apart from triclosan, the other 9 biocides at sub-inhibitory concentration can dissipate the membrane potential and lead to A. baumannii tolerance to antibiotics that have intracellular targets. Our results support the concern that residual biocides in clinical or community environments can promote the development of antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Namita Sharma ◽  
Anil K. Chhillar ◽  
Sweety Dahiya ◽  
Pooja Choudhary ◽  
Aruna Punia ◽  
...  

The escalating emergence and prevalence of infections caused by multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogenic bacteria accentuate the crucial need to develop novel and effectual therapeutic strategies to control this threat. Recent past surprisingly indicates a staggering decline in effective strategies against MDR. Different approaches have been employed to minimize the effect of resistance but the question still lingers over the astounding number of drugs already tried and tested to no avail, furthermore, the detection of new drug targets and the action of new antibacterial agents against already existing drug targets also complicate the condition. Antibiotic adjuvants are considered as one such promising approach for overcoming the bacterial resistance. Adjuvants can potentiate the action of generally adopted antibacterial drugs against MDR bacterial pathogens either by minimizing the impact and emergence of resistance or improving the action of antibacterial drugs. This review provides an overview of mechanism of antibiotic resistance, main types of adjuvants and their mode of action, achievements and progression.


MedChemComm ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1370-1378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun-Mei Liu ◽  
Jia-Yan Huang ◽  
Li-Xin Sheng ◽  
Xiao-An Wen ◽  
Ke-Guang Cheng

Due to the obvious adverse effects of 5-fluorouracil and considering the diverse biological activities of pentacyclic triterpenes, twelve pentacyclic triterpene-5-fluorouracil conjugates were synthesized and their antitumor activities were evaluated.


Antibiotics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 367
Author(s):  
Alexandre Lamas ◽  
Vicente Arteaga ◽  
Patricia Regal ◽  
Beatriz Vázquez ◽  
José Manuel Miranda ◽  
...  

Antimicrobial resistance is one of today’s major public health challenges. Infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria have been responsible for an increasing number of deaths in recent decades. These resistant bacteria are also a concern in the food chain, as bacteria can resist common biocides used in the food industry and reach consumers. As a consequence, the search for alternatives to common antimicrobials by the scientific community has intensified. Substances obtained from nature have shown great potential as new sources of antimicrobial activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of five bee venoms, also called apitoxins, against two common foodborne pathogens. A total of 50 strains of the Gram-negative pathogen Salmonella enterica and 8 strains of the Gram-positive pathogen Listeria monocytogenes were tested. The results show that the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were highly influenced by the bacterial genus. The MIC values ranged from 256 to 1024 µg/mL in S. enterica and from 16 to 32 µg/mL in L. monocytogenes. The results of this study demonstrate that apitoxin is a potential alternative agent against common foodborne pathogens, and it can be included in the development of new models to inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria in the food chain.


Antibiotics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hercules Sakkas ◽  
Petros Bozidis ◽  
Afrodite Ilia ◽  
George Mpekoulis ◽  
Chrissanthy Papadopoulou

During a six-month period (October 2017–March 2018), the prevalence and susceptibility of important pathogenic bacteria isolated from 12 hospital raw sewage samples in North Western Greece was investigated. The samples were analyzed for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing Escherichia coli, carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (CKP), and multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using the agar diffusion method according to the recommendations of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. The diversity of carbapenemases harboring K. pneumoniae was examined by two phenotyping screening methods (modified Hodge test and combined disk test), a new immunochromatographic rapid assay (RESIST-4 O.K.N.V.) and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The results demonstrated the prevalence of MRSA, vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA), VRE, and CKP in the examined hospital raw sewage samples. In addition, the aforementioned methods which are currently used in clinical laboratories for the rapid identification and detection of resistant bacteria and genes, performed sufficiently to provide reliable results in terms of accuracy and efficiency.


2020 ◽  
Vol 94 (15) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Antonio Carballo-Ontiveros ◽  
Adrián Cazares ◽  
Pablo Vinuesa ◽  
Luis Kameyama ◽  
Gabriel Guarneros

ABSTRACT In this study, we describe seven vegetative phage genomes homologous to the historic phage B3 that infect Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Like other phage groups, the B3-like group contains conserved (core) and variable (accessory) open reading frames (ORFs) grouped at fixed regions in their genomes; however, in either case, many ORFs remain without assigned functions. We constructed lysogens of the seven B3-like phages in strain Ps33 of P. aeruginosa, a novel clinical isolate, and assayed the exclusion phenotype against a variety of temperate and virulent superinfecting phages. In addition to the classic exclusion conferred by the phage immunity repressor, the phenotype observed in B3-like lysogens suggested the presence of other exclusion genes. We set out to identify the genes responsible for this exclusion phenotype. Phage Ps56 was chosen as the study subject since it excluded numerous temperate and virulent phages. Restriction of the Ps56 genome, cloning of several fragments, and resection of the fragments that retained the exclusion phenotype allowed us to identify two core ORFs, so far without any assigned function, as responsible for a type of exclusion. Neither gene expressed separately from plasmids showed activity, but the concurrent expression of both ORFs is needed for exclusion. Our data suggest that phage adsorption occurs but that phage genome translocation to the host’s cytoplasm is defective. To our knowledge, this is the first report on this type of exclusion mediated by a prophage in P. aeruginosa. IMPORTANCE Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative bacterium frequently isolated from infected immunocompromised patients, and the strains are resistant to a broad spectrum of antibiotics. Recently, the use of phages has been proposed as an alternative therapy against multidrug-resistant bacteria. However, this approach may present various hurdles. This work addresses the problem that pathogenic bacteria may be lysogenized by phages carrying genes encoding resistance against secondary infections, such as those used in phage therapy. Discovering phage genes that exclude superinfecting phages not only assigns novel functions to orphan genes in databases but also provides insight into selection of the proper phages for use in phage therapy.


Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1480
Author(s):  
Rayan Y. Booq ◽  
Essam A. Tawfik ◽  
Haya A. Alfassam ◽  
Ahmed J. Alfahad ◽  
Essam J. Alyamani

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a new technology that has been employed to screen and discover new drugs. Using AI, an anti-diabetic treatment (Halicin) was nominated and proven to have a unique antibacterial activity against several harmful bacterial strains, including multidrug-resistant bacteria. This study aims to explore the antibacterial effect of halicin and microbial susceptibility using the zone of inhibition and the minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) values while assessing the stability of stored halicin over a period of time with cost-effective and straightforward methods. Linear regression graphs were constructed, and the correlation coefficient was calculated. The new antibacterial agent was able to inhibit all tested gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial strains, but in different concentrations—including the A. baumannii multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolate. The MIC of halicin was found to be 16 μg/mL for S. aureus (ATCC BAA-977), 32 μg/mL for E. coli (ATCC 25922), 128 μg/mL for A. baumannii (ATCC BAA-747), and 256 μg/mL for MDR A. baumannii. Upon storage, the MICs were increased, suggesting instability of the drug after approximately a week of storage at 4 °C. MICs and zones of inhibition were found to be high (R = 0.90 to 0.98), suggesting that halicin has a promising antimicrobial activity and may be used as a wide-spectrum antibacterial drug. However, the drug’s pharmacokinetics have not been investigated, and further elucidation is needed.


Author(s):  
Karolina Jeżak ◽  
Anna Kozajda

AbstractIntensive animal farming emits to the environment very high concentrations of bioaerosol, mainly composed of microorganisms, including antibiotics resistant strains, and their derivatives. Poland is a significant producer of poultry and swine in Europe; Ukraine is located in the immediate vicinity of Poland and the EU. Thus, the review focuses on the presence of potentially pathogenic and antimicrobial-resistant zoonotic bacteria and antimicrobial genes in the environment of farms and food of animal origin in Poland and Ukraine. Existing data confirms presence of these bacteria in the food animal origin chain environment in both countries. However, it is difficult to compare the scale of multidrug-resistant bacteria (e.g. MRSA, ESBL) dissemination in Poland and Ukraine with other EU countries due to lack of more extensive studies and large-scale monitoring in these two countries. A series of studies concerning resistance of pathogenic bacteria isolated from livestock environment have been published in Poland but usually on single farms with a very limited number of samples, and without a genotypic drug resistance marking. From Ukraine are available only few reports, but also disturbing. The risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria transmission does not only concern animal farming, but also other facilities of animal origin food supply chains, especially slaughterhouses.


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