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Inhibition of quorum sensing mediated biofilm development and virulence in uropathogens by Hyptis suaveolens

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Abstract

Bacterial urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common nosocomial infections, accounting for about 40 % of all hospital-acquired infections. The bacterial spectrum of nosocomial UTIs is broad and the treatment of UTIs is becoming difficult owing to the emergence of drug resistance. Therefore, it is reasonable to investigate novel and alternative therapeutic strategies to treat UTIs. Since UTIs are caused by uropathogens with quorum sensing (QS)-dependent biofilm forming abilities, interruption of QS systems may be a novel approach to combat drug resistance. In the present study, a methanol extract (and hexane extract derived from it) of the medicinal plant Hyptis suaveolens (L.) were shown to have anti-QS activity against the biosensor strain Chromobacterium violaceum (ATCC 12472). Furthermore, the hexane extract of H. suaveolens (HEHS) inhibited biofilm formation by uropathogens such as Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Serratia marcescens. HEHS promotes the loosening of biofilm architecture and strongly inhibits in vitro biofilm formation by uropathogens, which was more apparent from microscopic images. In addition to this, HEHS reduces the production of QS-dependent virulence factors like protease and hemolysin, along with motility. The partial purification and GC–MS analysis of the active fraction revealed the presence of several therapeutically important compounds which may synergistically act on the uropathogens and possibly reduce the QS-dependent phenotypes. These findings suggest HEHS as potential phytotherapeutic agent which can be employed to formulate protective strategies against biofilm linked infections caused by uropathogens.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India for providing Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facility (Grant No. BT/BI/25/015/2012(BIF)). The authors also acknowledge Dr. Claus Sternberg, DTU Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, for providing COMSTAT software.

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Correspondence to Shunmugiah Karutha Pandian.

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Supplementary Fig. 1

Anti-quorum sensing activity of methanolic, aqueous, ethyl acetate and hexane extract of H. suaveolens against the QS biosensor strain C. violaceum ATCC 12472. MC- medium control, C- control, 1- aqueous, 2- ethyl acetate, 3- hexane and 4- methanol extracts treated wells. a- 6.25, b- 12.5, c- 25 and d-50 µg/ml of respective extracts (JPEG 728 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

Influence of HEHS on the growth of test bacterial pathogens used in the experiments. Cell density was quantified by measuring at A600 nm (JPEG 822 kb)

Supplementary material 3

Effect of HEHS on prodigiosin production by S. marcescens. Mean values of triplicate individual experiments and SDs are shown. **Indicates statistical significance (p < 0.002) and ***Indicates statistical significance (p < 0.001) (JPEG 560 kb)

Supplementary material 4

GC–MS chromatogram of bioactive fractions partially purified from HEHS (JPEG 113 kb)

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Salini, R., Sindhulakshmi, M., Poongothai, T. et al. Inhibition of quorum sensing mediated biofilm development and virulence in uropathogens by Hyptis suaveolens . Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 107, 1095–1106 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-015-0402-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-015-0402-x

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