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Selective toxicity of Catechin—a natural flavonoid towards bacteria

  • Applied microbial and cell physiology
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Abstract

Catechin is a plant polyphenol composed of epicatechin (EC), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin gallate (ECG), and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) as diastereoisomers. Among the various classes of flavonoids, catechin was found to be the most powerful free radical scavenger, scavenging the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated due to oxidative damage with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activity. The toxicity of catechin towards bacteria was studied using gram-positive bacteria (B. subtilis) and gram-negative bacteria (E. coli) as model organisms and was found to be more toxic towards gram-positive bacteria. From the results, catechin was found to be beneficial as well as toxic (inhibitory) to the bacteria at a selective concentration behaving as double-edged swords with an IC50 value of 9 ppm for both the bacteria. The inhibitory mechanism of catechin was by oxidative damage through membrane permeabilization which was confirmed by the formation and treatment of bacterial liposomes. SEM images of the control and treated bacteria reveals membrane damage with morphological changes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Aruna Dhathathreyan, Head, Biophysics Department, CLRI, for carrying the liposome work and AFM imaging. AF thanks CSIR for providing senior research fellowship (SRF).

Authors’ contribution

Study conception and design and data analysis and interpretation were done by JRR and acquisition of data, data management, development of methodology, and manuscript writing were conducted by AF. Both the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Chemical Laboratory, Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Adyar, Chennai, 600 020, India

    Aafreen Fathima & Jonnalagadda Raghava Rao

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  1. Aafreen Fathima
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  2. Jonnalagadda Raghava Rao
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Correspondence to Jonnalagadda Raghava Rao.

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This work does not contain any study with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests. The sponsors have no role in the design and development of the study, in the analysis or interpretation of data, in writing the manuscript, and in the decision to publish.

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Fathima, A., Rao, J.R. Selective toxicity of Catechin—a natural flavonoid towards bacteria. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100, 6395–6402 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7492-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7492-x

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