Antibacterial Mechanism of Long-Chain Polyphosphates in Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

The results of previous studies indicated that the antibacterial effects of long-chain polyphosphates (sodium polyphosphate glassy [SPG] and sodium ultraphosphate [UP]) to Staphylococcus aureus ISP40 8325 could be attributed to damage to the cell envelope (cell wall or cell membrane). Also, Ca2+ (0.01 M) or Mg2+ (0.01 M) reversed the bactericidal and bacteriolytic effects of polyphosphates in S. aureus. In the present study, 0.4M sodium chloride (NaCl) protected the cells from leakage caused by SPG and 0.6M NaCl protected the cells from leakage by UP. Polymyxin, a peptide antibiotic that causes cell membrane damage, induced leakage even in the presence of 0.6M NaCl. In the presence of 0.4M NaCl, bacterial leakage was significantly reduced by disodium ethylenediamine tetraacetate (EDTA), a metal chelator that causes cell wall damage. Bacterial leakage by polyphosphates was significantly greater at pH 8 than at pH 6, which suggested that metal-ion chelation was involved in the antibacterial mechanism. A dialysis membrane (MWCO 100) was used to separate free metal and polyphosphate-bound metal. Levels of free Ca2+ and Mg2+ in polyphosphate-treated cells were significantly lower than those of the cells without polyphosphate. This free-metal dialysis study provided Chemical evidence to show that long-chain polyphosphates interacted with S. aureus cell walls by a metal-ion chelation mechanism. In addition, long-chain polyphosphates were shown to bind to the cell wall, chelate metals, and remain bound without releasing metal ions from the cell wall into the suspending medium. A hypothesis is proposed in which the antibacterial mechanism of long-chain polyphosphates is caused by binding of long-chain polyphosphates to the cell wall of early-exponential phase cells of S. aureus ISP40 8325. The polyphosphates chelate structurally essential metals (Ca2+ and Mg2+) of the cell wall, resulting in bactericidal and bacteriolytic effects. The structurally essential metals probably form cross bridges between the teichoic acid chains in the cell walls of gram-positive bacteria.