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Antibacterial Effect of Phenolic Acids Derived from Rice Straw and in Combination with Antibiotics Against Escherichia coli

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Abstract

Many studies have demonstrated that natural plant extracts have inhibitory effects on microorganisms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the inhibitory effect of phenolic acids from rice straw (PAs) on Escherichia coli and their synergistic effect in combination with antibiotics. PAs can inhibit the growth of E. coli effectively by inducing the formation of H2O2; PA-treated cells had a tenfold greater intracellular H2O2 concentration than the control group. The synergistic effect caused by the interaction of PAs and antibiotics on inhibiting the growth of E. coli was significant. This effect may be caused by a PA-induced change in the permeability of E. coli cell membrane. The treatment with PAs made the extracellular K+ concentration reached 15 mg/L within 30 min, while the K+ concentration in the control group was very low and did not change significantly over time. Similarly to the extracellular K+, the extracellular protein concentration exceeded 150 mg/L in the PA treatment group, while it remained very low in the control group. Due to the increased cell permeability, more antibiotics can enter the cell. Hence, this study may provide a novel method of improving the safe use of antibiotics.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFE0116300), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32071640), and the Special Fund for Agroscientific Research in the Public Interest (No. 201503135–14).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Bio-Energy Crops, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, 99 Shangda Road, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Huanran Wei, Zheng Jin, Yazhu Wang, Fan Yang, Ying Xiao, Yipeng Jiang, Jiajun Hu & Min-Tian Gao

  2. Shandong Yunqing Biotechnology Co., Ltd, 2122 Shaohai Road, Huantai County, Zibo City, 256400, Shandong Province, China

    Min-Tian Gao

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  1. Huanran Wei
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  2. Zheng Jin
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Contributions

Huanran Wei, Zheng Jin: conceptualization, methodology, writing original draft, writing—review and editing, visualization. Min-Tian Gao: conceptualization, methodology, supervision, funding acquisition, writing—review and editing. Jiajun Hu: methodology. Yazhu Wang, Fan Yang, Ying Xiao, Yipeng Jiang: methodology, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Min-Tian Gao.

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Huanran Wei and Zheng Jin have made equal contributions to this article and they are co-first authors

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Wei, H., Jin, Z., Wang, Y. et al. Antibacterial Effect of Phenolic Acids Derived from Rice Straw and in Combination with Antibiotics Against Escherichia coli. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 194, 2931–2945 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-021-03650-5

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