Abstract
Vibrio cholerae is an important human pathogen causing intestinal disease with a high incidence in developing countries. V. cholerae can switch between planktonic and biofilm lifestyles. Biofilm formation is determinant for transmission, virulence and antibiotic resistance. Due to the enhanced antibiotic resistance observed by bacterial pathogens, antimicrobial nanomaterials have been used to combat infections by stopping bacterial growth and preventing biofilm formation. In this study, the effect of the nanocomposites zeolite-embedded silver (Ag), copper (Cu), or zinc (Zn) nanoparticles (NPs) was evaluated in V. cholerae planktonic cells, and in two biofilm states: pellicle biofilm (PB), formed between air-liquid interphase, and surface-attached biofilm (SB), formed at solid-liquid interfaces. Each nanocomposite type had a distinctive antimicrobial effect altering each V. cholerae lifestyles differently. The ZEO-AgNPs nanocomposite inhibited PB formation at 4 μg/ml, and prevented SB formation and eliminated planktonic cells at 8 μg/ml. In contrast, the nanocomposites ZEO-CuNPs and ZEO-ZnNPs affect V. cholerae viability but did not completely avoid bacterial growth. At transcriptional level, depending on the nanoparticles and biofilm type, nanocomposites modified the relative expression of the vpsL, rbmA and bap1, genes involved in biofilm formation. Furthermore, the relative abundance of the outer membrane proteins OmpT, OmpU, OmpA and OmpW also differs among treatments in PB and SB. This work provides a basis for further study of the nanomaterials effect at structural, genetic and proteomic levels to understand the response mechanisms of V. cholerae against metallic nanoparticles.
Highlights
Vibrio cholerae pathogenic strains are the etiologic agent of cholera, an acute watery diarrheal disease that occurs in 3–5 millions of persons annually, with 100,000 to 120,000 lethal cases [1,2]
In agreement with the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results, the NPs for all nanocomposites can be considered with a core-shell type structure where the metallic cores of Ag, Zn, or Cu are covered by AgO for ZEO-AgNPs, ZnO for ZEO-ZnNPs, or complex shells constituted by oxide species as Cu(OH)2, Cu2O and CuO for ZEO-CuNPs
The antimicrobial effect of Ag, Cu, and Zn NPs embedded into a zeolite matrix were tested in three different V. cholerae lifestyles: pellicle biofilm (PB), planktonic cells, and surface-attached biofilm (SB), to assess the sensitivity to metallic NPs depending on the cellular arrangements
Summary
Vibrio cholerae pathogenic strains are the etiologic agent of cholera, an acute watery diarrheal disease that occurs in 3–5 millions of persons annually, with 100,000 to 120,000 lethal cases [1,2]. V. cholerae, and other Vibrio species such as V. parahaemolyticus, V. vulnificus, V. fischeri, V. harveyi and V. alginolyticus have been shown to be susceptible to the effect of nanomaterials, such as silver, copper oxide, zinc oxide, boron, titanium dioxide and silver-doped zeolites [7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18]. From the little information that we have about pathogenic bacteria molecular response to metallic nanoparticles, most of the research has been focus on planktonic cells, which might not be the only lifestyle of some microorganism in the natural environment
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
