Antimicrobial activity of apitoxin from Apis mellifera in Salmonella enterica strains isolated from poultry and its effects on motility, biofilm formation and gene expression

Publication date: Available online 30 September 2019Source: Microbial PathogenesisAuthor(s): Vicente Arteaga, Alexandre Lamas, Patricia Regal, Beatriz Vázquez, José Manuel Miranda, Alberto Cepeda, Carlos Manuel FrancoAbstractSalmonella is a major global food-borne pathogen. One of the main concerns related to Salmonella and other food-borne pathogens is their capacity to acquire antimicrobial resistance and produce biofilms. Due to the increased resistance to common antimicrobials used to treat livestock animals and human infections, the discovery of new antimicrobial substances is one of the main challenges in microbiological research. An additional challenge is the development of new methods and substances to inhibit and destruct biofilms. We determined the antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities of apitoxin in 16 Salmonella strains isolated from poultry. In addition, the effect of apitoxin on Salmonella motility and the expression of biofilm- and virulence-related genes was evaluated. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of apitoxin ranged from 1,024–256 μg/mL, with 512 μg/mL being the most common. Sub-inhibitory concentrations of apitoxin significantly reduced biofilm formation in 14 of the 16 Salmonella strains tested, with significant increases in motility. MIC concentrations of apitoxin destroyed the pre-formed biofilm by 27.66–68.22% (47.00% ± 10.91). The expression of biofilm- and virulence-related genes and small RNAs was differentially regu...
Source: Microbial Pathogenesis - Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research