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Anti-infective potential of plant-derived quorum sensing inhibitors against multi-drug resistant human and aquatic bacterial pathogens

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Abstract

The present study intended to decipher the anti-infective potential of bioactive phytocompounds, such as rosmarinic acid, morin, naringin, chlorogenic acid, and mangiferin, against aquatic and human bacterial pathogens using Artemia spp. nauplii and Caenorhabditis elegans as animal models, respectively. Initially, the test compounds were screened against the QS traits in Vibrio spp., such as bioluminescence production and biofilm formation. The test compounds effectively inhibited the bioluminescence in V. harveyi. Further, the confocal laser scanning microscopic analysis revealed that these natural compounds could efficiently reduce the clumping morphology, a characteristic biofilm formation in Vibrio spp., without inhibiting bacterial growth. The results of in vivo analysis showed a significant increase in the survival of Artemia spp. nauplii infected with Vibrio spp. upon exposure to these compounds. Moreover, the compounds used in this study were already proven and reported for their quorum sensing inhibitory efficacy against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Hence, the anti-infective efficacy of these compounds against P. aeruginosa (PAO1) and its clinical isolates (AS1 and AS2) was studied using C. elegans as a live animal model system. The results of time-killing assay deciphered that rosmarinic acid and naringin are being the most effective ones in rescuing the animals from P. aeruginosa infection followed by morin, mangiferin, and chlorogenic acid. Further, the toxicity results revealed that these compounds did not show any lethal effect on C. elegans and Artemia spp. nauplii at the tested concentrations. In conclusion, the phytochemicals used in this study were effective in controlling the QS-regulated virulence traits in Vibrio spp. and P. aeruginosa infections in Artemia spp. nauplii and C. elegans animal model systems, respectively.

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All the authors have contributed to this research work and approved the submission. The data supporting this study’s findings are available with the authors. Data are not publically available; however, it is available from the authors upon reasonable request.

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Funding

The authors AA, VB, BA, KA, SVPIA, SM, BK, and AV gratefully acknowledge the computational and bioinformatics facility provided by the Alagappa University Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facility (funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India; Grant No. BT/BI/25/001/2006). AA gratefully acknowledges the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi [Grant No. 9/688 (0014)/2011] and Dr. D. S. Kothari Post Doctoral Fellowship, UGC, New Delhi for the financial assistance rendered [Grant No: F.4 − 2/2006(BSR)/BL/18–19/0298]. AA gratefully acknowledges the Department of Zoology, University of Madras (Guindy Campus), Chennai, for the academic support under the DST-FIST scheme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, 630 003, India

    Annapoorani Angusamy, Vigneshkumar Balasubramanian, Balaji Arunmurugan, Kannapan Arunachalam, Sybiya Vasantha Packiavathy Issac Abraham, Sivaranjani Murugesan, Balamurugan Krishnasamy & Veera Ravi Arumugam

  2. Conservation of Coastal and Marine Resources (CMR) division, National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Anna University campus, Tamil Nadu, 600 025, Chennai, India

    Vigneshkumar Balasubramanian

  3. Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Agricultural Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Kannapan Arunachalam

  4. Department of Biotechnology, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, 641 114, India

    Sybiya Vasantha Packiavathy Issac Abraham

  5. Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

    Sivaranjani Murugesan

  6. Department of Zoology, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600 025, India

    Annapoorani Angusamy & Janarthanan Sundaram

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  1. Annapoorani Angusamy
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  2. Vigneshkumar Balasubramanian
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  3. Balaji Arunmurugan
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  4. Kannapan Arunachalam
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  5. Sybiya Vasantha Packiavathy Issac Abraham
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  6. Sivaranjani Murugesan
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  7. Balamurugan Krishnasamy
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  8. Janarthanan Sundaram
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  9. Veera Ravi Arumugam
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Contributions

AA, VB, and AV conceived and designed research, AA, VB and BA conducted experiments, and KA, SVPIA, and SM provided support to conduct the experiments and manuscript preparation. BK and AVR contribution of chemicals, Artemia spp. nauplii and C. elegans. AA wrote the manuscript. AVR and JS manuscript correction.

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Correspondence to Veera Ravi Arumugam.

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Angusamy, A., Balasubramanian, V., Arunmurugan, B. et al. Anti-infective potential of plant-derived quorum sensing inhibitors against multi-drug resistant human and aquatic bacterial pathogens. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 39, 147 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-023-03578-4

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