Abstract
Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections have become global issues for public health, which increases the utter need to develop alternatives to antibiotics. Here, the HSER (Homo sapiens retinoic acid receptor) peptide was designed from retinoic acid receptor responder protein 2 of Homo sapiens, and was conjugated with synthesized CQDs (carbon quantum dots) for enhanced antibacterial activity in combination, as individually they are not highly effective. The HSER–CQDs were characterized using spectrophotometer, HPLC coupled with electrospray-ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ESI–qTOF) mass spectrometer, zeta potential, zeta size, and FTIR. Thereafter, the antibacterial activity against Vancomycin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) and Escherichia coli (carbapenem resistant) was studied using growth curve analysis, further supported by microscopic images showing the presence of cell debris and dead bacterial cells. The antibacterial mechanism of HSER–CQDs was observed to be via cell wall disruption and also interaction with gDNA (genomic DNA). Finally, toxicity test against normal human epithelial cells showed no toxicity, confirmed by microscopic analysis. Thus, the HSER–CQDs conjugate, having high stability and low toxicity with prominent antibacterial activity, can be used as a potential antibacterial agent.
Highlights
The evolution of bacteria with every generation to acquire resistance towards new antibiotics have made it a challenge to treat pathogenic bacteria, as their pattern of resistance differs [1]
Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) CCM 1767, was obtained from the Czech Collection of Microorganisms, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, and Escherichia coli ATCC BAA 2340 was obtained from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), United States
The number of cells observed per sample was observed from 10 randomized microscopic grid fields
Summary
The evolution of bacteria with every generation to acquire resistance towards new antibiotics have made it a challenge to treat pathogenic bacteria, as their pattern of resistance differs [1]. There is an urgent need to develop a better treatment method against the VRSA and CRE infections [5,11] This highlights the emergency of developing alternatives to antibiotics that have high antimicrobial activity with less or negligible toxicity. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) can be an interesting alternative to traditional antibiotics due to its natural occurrence in almost all species, their amphipathic nature, and their assist innate immunity They have the ability to provide highly effective and non-specific defensive activity against invading pathogens [12,13,14]. The HSER–CQDs showed antibacterial activity that can be used as a better treatment strategy against multidrug-resistant bacterial infections and a potential substitute for antibiotics with medicinal values
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