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Antimicrobial Peptides Encounter Resistance of Aureolysin during Their Action on Staphylococcus aureus Biofilm

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Abstract

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising candidates as new anti-biofilm agents to cope with biofilm-related infections. To date, numerous studies have evaluated the efficacy of AMPs as anti-biofilm agents. However, studies related to the mechanism of their anti-biofilm action are still lacking. Similar to other antibiotics, AMPs also require greater quantity and time to kill bacteria embedded in the biofilm, as compared to killing planktonic cells. This study has been conducted as an attempt to elucidate reasons of this negligible anti-biofilm activity of AMPs. We found that AMPs (100 µg/mL) processed with methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) biofilms were degraded into fragments over time, with significantly reduced antimicrobial activity due to exposure to aureolysin, an extracellular protease known to regulate the biofilm growth cycle of S. aureus. As such, it was determined that AMPs encounter resistance of aureolysin during their action on S. aureus biofilm.

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Acknowldgements

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology and Research Institute for Basic Science, Hoseo University, Asan, 31499, Korea

    Subin Seo, Jingyoung Jung, Chang Yeop Kim & In Hee Lee

  2. Division of Big Data and Management Engineering, College of Convergence Science & Technology, Hoseo University, Asan, 31499, Korea

    Hyuncheol Kang

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  1. Subin Seo
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Seo, S., Jung, J., Kim, C.Y. et al. Antimicrobial Peptides Encounter Resistance of Aureolysin during Their Action on Staphylococcus aureus Biofilm. Biotechnol Bioproc E 26, 216–222 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-020-0384-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-020-0384-z

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