Multiple drug-induced stress responses inhibit formation of Escherichia coli biofilms.

Multiple drug-induced stress responses inhibit formation of Escherichia coli biofilms. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2020 Aug 21;: Authors: Teteneva NA, Mart'yanov SV, Esteban López M, Kahnt J, Glatter T, Netrusov AI, Plakunov VK, Sourjik V Abstract In most ecosystems, bacteria primarily exist as structured surface-associated biofilms that can be highly tolerant to antibiotics and thus represent an important health issue. Here we explored drug repurposing as a strategy to identify new antibiofilm compounds, screening over 1000 compounds from the Prestwick Chemical Library of approved drugs for specific activities that prevent biofilm formation by Escherichia coli Most growth-inhibiting compounds, which include known antibacterial but also antiviral and other drugs, had also reduced biofilm formation. However, we also identified several drugs that were biofilm-inhibitory at doses where only weak or no effect on planktonic growth could be observed. Activities of the most specific antibiofilm compounds were further characterized using gene expression analysis, proteomics and microscopy. We observed that most of these drugs acted by repressing genes responsible for production of curli, major component of E. coli biofilm matrix. This repression apparently occurred through induction of several different stress responses, including DNA and cell-wall damage, and homeostasis of divalent cations, demonstrating that biofilm formation can be inhibite...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Appl Environ Microbiol Source Type: research