Downregulated Expression of Virulence Factors Induced by Benzyl Isothiocyanate in Staphylococcus Aureus: A Transcriptomic Analysis.

Xiaoning Wang,Hongshun Hao,Gongliang Zhang,Hongyan Wu,Jingran Bi,Tongxin Niu,Hongman Hou

doi:10.3390/ijms20215441

Xiaoning Wang, Hongshun Hao + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20215441

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Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a common foodborne pathogen that leads to various diseases; therefore, we urgently need to identify different means to control this harmful pathogen in food. In this study, we monitored the transcriptional changes of S. aureus by RNA-seq analysis to better understand the effect of benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) on the virulence inhibition of S. aureus and determined the bacteriostatic effect of BITC at subinhibitory concentrations. Our results revealed that, compared with the control group (SAC), the BITC-treated experimental group (SAQ_BITC) had 708 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which 333 genes were downregulated and the capsular polysaccharide (cp) was significantly downregulated. Furthermore, we screened five of the most virulent factors of S. aureus, including the capsular polysaccharide biosynthesis protein (cp5D), capsular polysaccharide synthesis enzyme (cp8F), thermonuclease (nuc), clumping factor (clf), and protein A (spa), and verified the accuracy of these significantly downregulated genes by qRT-PCR. At the same time, we used light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and inverted fluorescence microscopy (IFM) to observe changes in biofilm associated with the cp5D and cp8F. Therefore, these results will help to further study the basis of BITC for the antibacterial action of foodborne pathogenic bacteria.

Highlights

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a gram-positive bacterium of the symbiotic flora of humans and various animal species and is a common foodborne pathogen [1,2]
Foodborne illness has become one of the major food safety and public health issues caused by pathogenic microorganisms in food and is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide [3]
The results showed that resveratrol reduced the expression of α-hemolysin under the premise of inhibiting the normal growth of S. aureus [16]

Summary

Introduction

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a gram-positive bacterium of the symbiotic flora of humans and various animal species and is a common foodborne pathogen [1,2]. Foodborne illness has become one of the major food safety and public health issues caused by pathogenic microorganisms in food and is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide [3]. The high density of foodborne diseases and even food poisoning caused by S. aureus infection threatens human health and safety. Controlling microbes in food, especially S. aureus, remains a worldwide problem [4]. S. aureus has a wide range of viability, and this strong viability contributes to disease [5,6]. The inhibition of S. aureus provides an important basis for foodborne microbial control

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