Project description:Staphylococcus epidermidis, the common inhabitant of human skin and mucosal surfaces has emerged as an important pathogen in patients receiving surgical implants and medical devices. Entering the body via surgical sites and colonizing the medical devices through formation of multi-layered biofilms it leads to refractory and persistent device-related infections (DRIs). Staphylococcal proportions within biofilms are more tolerant to antibiotics and immune responses, and thus are hard-to-treat. The consequent morbidity and mortality, and economic losses in health care systems has strongly necessitated the need for development of new anti-bacterial and anti-biofilm based therapeutics. In this study, we describe the biological activity of a marine sponge-derived Streptomyces sp. SBT348 extract in restraining staphylococcal growth and biofilm formation on polystyrene, glass, medically relevant titan metal and silicone surfaces. A bio-assay guided fractionation was performed to isolate the active compound (C3) from the crude SBT348 extract. Our results demonstrated that C3 effectively inhibits the growth (MIC: 31.25 µg/ml) and biofilm formation (sub-MIC range: 1.95-<31.25 µg/ml) of S. epidermidis RP62A in vitro. Chemical characterization of C3 by heat and enzyme treatments, and High-Resolution Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometry (HRMS) revealed its heat-stable and non-proteinaceous nature, and high molecular weight (1258. 3257 Da). Cytotoxicity profiling of C3 in vitro on mouse fibroblast (NIH/3T3) and macrophage (J774.1) cell lines, and in vivo on the greater wax moth larvae Galleria melonella revealed its non-toxic nature at the effective dose. Transcriptome analysis of C3 treated-S. epidermidis RP62A has further unmasked the negative effect of C3 on central metabolism (carbon, amino acid and protein, lipids, nucleotide and energy) suggesting its mode of action. Taken together, these findings suggest that C3 could be possibly used as antibacterial and antibiofilm coatings on medically-relevant surfaces and prevent the relapsing staphylococcal DRIs.
Project description:Neopetrotaurines A-C, isoquinoline quinone-linked isoquinoline alkaloids that possess a unique taurine bridge connecting the two bicyclic components, were isolated from a Neopetrosia sp. marine sponge. These new compounds have proton-deficient scaffolds, so their structure elucidation was facilitated by utilizing LR-HSQMBC and HMBC NMR experiments optimized to detect 4- and 5-bond long-range 1H-13C heteronuclear correlations. Neopetrotaurines A-C showed potent inhibition of transcription driven by the oncogenic fusion protein PAX3-FOXO1 in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma.