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Combination of microbiological, spectroscopic and molecular docking techniques to study the antibacterial mechanism of thymol against Staphylococcus aureus: membrane damage and genomic DNA binding

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An Erratum to this article was published on 27 February 2017

Abstract

Thymol (2-isopropyl-5-methylphenol) is a natural ingredient used as flavor or preservative agent in food products. The antibacterial mechanism of thymol against Gram-positive, Staphylococcus aureus was investigated in this work. A total of 15 membrane fatty acids were identified in S. aureus cells by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Exposure to thymol at low concentrations induced obvious alterations in membrane fatty acid composition, such as decreasing the proportion of branched 12-methyltetradecanoic acid and 14-methylhexadecanoic acid (from 22.4 and 17.3% to 7.9 and 10.3%, respectively). Membrane permeability assay and morphological image showed that thymol at higher concentrations disrupted S. aureus cell membrane integrity, which may decrease cell viability. Moreover, the interaction of thymol with genomic DNA was also investigated using multi-spectroscopic techniques, docking and atomic force microscopy. The results indicated that thymol bound to the minor groove of DNA with binding constant (K a) value of (1.22 ± 0.14) × 104 M−1, and this binding interaction induced a mild destabilization in the DNA secondary structure, and made DNA molecules to be aggregated.

Thymol exerts its antibacterial effect throught destruction of bacterial cell membrane and binding directly to genomic DNA

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21576099, 21376094) as well as S&T projects of Guangdong Province (2015A030312001 and 2013B020203001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Food Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510641, China

    Lang-Hong Wang, Zhi-Hong Zhang & Xin-An Zeng

  2. Food Green Processing and Nutrition Regulation Research Center of Guangdong Province, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510641, China

    Lang-Hong Wang, Zhi-Hong Zhang & Xin-An Zeng

  3. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand

    De-Ming Gong

  4. Institute of Bast Fiber Crops, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 348 West Xianjiahu Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410205, China

    Man-Sheng Wang

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  1. Lang-Hong Wang
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Correspondence to Xin-An Zeng or De-Ming Gong.

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An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0264-3.

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Wang, LH., Zhang, ZH., Zeng, XA. et al. Combination of microbiological, spectroscopic and molecular docking techniques to study the antibacterial mechanism of thymol against Staphylococcus aureus: membrane damage and genomic DNA binding. Anal Bioanal Chem 409, 1615–1625 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-016-0102-z

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