Abstract
The maggots of the drone fly Eristalis tenax (Diptera) have survived in habitats with extreme microbial contamination. Despite this polluted environment, they avoid infection by microorganisms. We have investigated the first physical barrier, the cuticle surface of E. tenax maggots collected from Alakrasha dain, Egypt, using scanning electron microscopy which revealed an array of high density and dimensions of nano and microstructures that narrow to sharp points appear to make it difficult for bacteria to colonize its surface which interferes with the formation of biofilms and potentially acts as a defense against bacterial infection. This investigation leading us to more examine the antibacterial properties of the whole maggot extract naturally without any previous simulation, the results were promising against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Staphylococcus mutans ATCC 25175, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Salmonella enterica Serotype Typhimurium ATCC 14028 bacteria compared to Nitrofurantoin antibiotic. Such antibacterial properties of both the maggot cuticle surface and the whole maggot extract have applications in many different fields, including antibacterial surfaces and biofilms besides the future isolating and developing of antimicrobial peptides from the maggot crude extract which could be a breakthrough against antibiotic resistance.
Highlights
Eristalis tenax, the common drone fly, family Syrphidae (Diptera), with over 5,000 described species (Rotheray, 1993)
The diameters of the clear zones were measured after 24 h of incubation at 37°C, a standard antibiotic was used for comparison (Nitrofurantoin 300 μg) according to the standard procedures of the CLSI, 2020 and British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) disc diffusion method [CLSI, 2020]
-Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing: The results of the antimicrobial susceptibility testing for the Rat-tailed maggot extract of the whole body as a crude extract show a high level of antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial tested strains, zones of inhibitions are observed as indicators of antimicrobial activity
Summary
The common drone fly, family Syrphidae (Diptera), with over 5,000 described species (Rotheray, 1993). In contrast to the flower-feeding habitats of adult syrphids, their immature stage is usually referred to as a rat-tailed maggot which is found in a very diverse array of habitats. They prefer living in stagnant aquatic environments with high organic and microbial contamination (Altincicek & Vilcins kas 2007). Because of the preference of E. tenax larvae for dirty waters with anaerobic conditions, they are reliable and prominent indicators in the biological assessment of water quality for extremely high pollution with organic material (Chapman, 1996).
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