Abstract
One of the key problems of modern infectious disease medicine is the growing number of drug-resistant and multi-drug-resistant bacterial strains. For this reason, many studies are devoted to the search for highly active antimicrobial substances that could be used in therapy against bacterial infections. As it turns out, snake venoms are a rich source of proteins that exert a strong antibacterial effect, and therefore they have become an interesting research material. We analyzed Naja ashei venom for such antibacterial properties, and we found that a specific composition of proteins can act to eliminate individual bacterial cells, as well as the entire biofilm of Staphylococcus epidermidis. In general, we used ion exchange chromatography (IEX) to obtain 10 protein fractions with different levels of complexity, which were then tested against certified and clinical strains of S. epidermidis. One of the fractions (F2) showed exceptional antimicrobial effects both alone and in combination with antibiotics. The protein composition of the obtained fractions was determined using mass spectrometry techniques, indicating a high proportion of phospholipases A2, three-finger toxins, and L-amino acids oxidases in F2 fraction, which are most likely responsible for the unique properties of this fraction. Moreover, we were able to identify a new group of low abundant proteins containing the Ig-like domain that have not been previously described in snake venoms.
Highlights
Staphylococcus epidermidis, a gram-positive, coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CNS), is a representative of natural human microbiota inhabiting the skin and mucous membranes
In our earlier studies using proteomic techniques, we found that N. ashei venom contains, among others, phospholipases A2 and 3FTx toxins [19], which have been described many times as having antibacterial properties [20,21,22,23]
The results revealed that the amount of biofilm formed by various strains of S. epidermidis8 of 19
Summary
Staphylococcus epidermidis, a gram-positive, coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CNS), is a representative of natural human microbiota inhabiting the skin and mucous membranes. Unlike Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis does not produce toxins and its virulence is determined by its ability to form biofilms that enable them to colonize different types of biomaterials. This biofilm is resistant to antibiotics and prevents the immune response of the host organism [5] due to the presence of the exopolysaccharide matrix [6,7]. The ability to create an antibiotic-resistant biofilm forced the need for preventive action, focusing mainly on preventive antibiotic therapy in surgical patients. This strategy, which was demonstrated especially for vancomycin therapy, turned out to be disastrous and led to the emergence of vancomycin-resistant strains [8]
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