No abstract

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and proteins are important components of innate immunity against pathogens in insects. The production of AMPs is costly owing to resource-based trade-offs, and strategies maximizing the efficacy of AMPs at low concentrations are therefore likely to be advantageous. Here, we show the potentiating functional interaction of co-occurring insect AMPs (the bumblebee linear peptides hymenoptaecin and abaecin) resulting in more potent antimicrobial effects at low concentrations. Abaecin displayed no detectable activity against Escherichia coli when tested alone at concentrations of up to 200 μM, whereas hymenoptaecin affected bacterial cell growth and viability but only at concentrations greater than 2 μM. In combination, as little as 1.25 μM abaecin enhanced the bactericidal effects of hymenoptaecin. To understand these potentiating functional interactions, we investigated their mechanisms of action using atomic force microscopy and fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based quenching assays. Abaecin was found to reduce the minimal inhibitory concentration of hymenoptaecin and to interact with the bacterial chaperone DnaK (an evolutionarily conserved central organizer of the bacterial chaperone network) when the membrane was compromised by hymenoptaecin. These naturally occurring potentiating interactions suggest that combinations of AMPs could be used therapeutically against Gram-negative bacterial pathogens that have acquired resistance to common antibiotics.

No abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus (a commercial probiotic) and inulin (a prebiotic) on the survival rates of honeybees infected and uninfected with Nosema ceranae, the level of phenoloxidase (PO) activity, the course of nosemosis, and the effect on the prevention of nosemosis development in bees. The cells of L. rhamnosus exhibited a high rate of survival in 56.56 % sugar syrup, which was used to feed the honeybees. Surprisingly, honeybees fed with sugar syrup supplemented with a commercial probiotic and a probiotic + prebiotic were more susceptible to N. ceranae infection, and their lifespan was much shorter. The number of microsporidian spores in the honeybees fed for 9 days prior to N. ceranae infection with a sugar syrup supplemented with a commercial probiotic was 25 times higher (970 million spores per one honeybee) than in a control group fed with pure sucrose syrup (38 million spores per one honeybee). PO activity reached its highest level in the hemolymph of this honeybee control group uninfected with N. ceranae. The addition of probiotics or both probiotics and prebiotics to the food of uninfected bees led to the ~2-fold decrease in the PO activity. The infection of honeybees with N. ceranae accompanied an almost 20-fold decrease in the PO level. The inulin supplemented solely at a concentration of 2 μg/mL was the only administrated factor which did not significantly affect honeybees’ survival, the PO activity, or the nosemosis infection level. In conclusion, the supplementation of honeybees’ diet with improperly selected probiotics or both probiotics and prebiotics does not prevent nosemosis development, can de-regulate insect immune systems, and may significantly increase bee mortality.

No abstract

Lysozyme and antimicrobial peptides are key factors of the humoral immune response in insects. In the present work lysozyme and anionic defense peptide (GMAP2) were isolated from the hemolymph of the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella and their antibacterial activity was investigated. Adsorption of G. mellonella lysozyme on the cell surface of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria was demonstrated using immunoblotting with anti-G. mellonella lysozyme antibodies. Lysozyme effectively inhibited the growth of selected Gram-positive bacteria, which was accompanied by serious alterations of the cell surface, as revealed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging. G. mellonella lysozyme used in concentrations found in the hemolymph of naive and immunized larvae, perforated also the Escherichia coli cell membrane and the level of such perforation was considerably increased by GMAP2. GMAP2 used alone did not perforate E. coli cells nor influence lysozyme muramidase activity. However, the peptide induced a decrease in the turgor pressure of the bacterial cell. Moreover, in the samples of bacteria treated with a mixture of lysozyme and GMAP2 the sodium chloride crystals were found, suggesting disturbance of ion transport across the membrane leading to cell disruption. These results clearly indicated the synergistic action of G. mellonella lysozyme and anionic peptide 2 against Gram-negative bacteria. The reported results suggested that, thanks to immune factors constitutively present in hemolymph, G. mellonella larvae are to some extent protected against infection caused by Gram-negative bacteria.

Insect immune response relies on the humoral and cellular mechanisms of innate immunity. The key factors are the antimicrobial polypeptides that act in concert against invading pathogens. Several such components, e.g. apolipophorin III (apoLp-III), lysozyme, and anionic peptide 2, are present constitutively in the hemolymph of non-challenged Galleria mellonella larvae. In the present study, we demonstrate an evidence for a synergistic action of G. mellonella lysozyme and apoLp-III against Gram-negative bacteria, providing novel insights into the mode of action of these proteins in insect antimicrobial defense. It was found that the muramidase activity of G. mellonella lysozyme considerably increased in the presence of apoLp-III. Moreover, apoLp-III enhanced the permeabilizing activity of lysozyme toward Escherichia coli cells. As shown using non-denaturing PAGE, the proteins did not form intermolecular complexes in vivo and in vitro, indicating that the effect observed was not connected with the intermolecular interactions between the proteins. Analysis of AFM images of E. coli cells exposed to G. mellonella lysozyme and/or apoLp-III revealed evident alterations in the bacterial surface structure accompanied by the changes in their biophysical properties. The bacterial cells demonstrated significant differences in elasticity, reflected by Young's modulus, as well as in adhesive forces and roughness values in comparison to the control ones. The constitutive presence of these two defense molecules in G. mellonella hemolymph and the fact that apoLp-III enhances lysozyme muramidase and perforating activities indicate that they can be regarded as important antibacterial factors acting at the early stage of infection against Gram-negative as well as Gram-positive bacteria.

Amphotericin B is an antibiotic used as the “gold standard” in the treatment of life-threatening fungal infections. Several molecular mechanisms have been proposed to explain exceptionally high effectiveness of amphotericin B in combating fungi. In the present work, we apply fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy to track, step by step, modes of the toxic activity of amphotericin B towards a clinical strain of Candida albicans. The images recorded reveal that the antibiotic binds to cells in the form of the small aggregates characterized by a relatively short fluorescence lifetime (0.2 ns). Amphotericin B binds preferentially to the cell walls of mature cells but also to the plasma membranes of the daughter cells at the budding stage. The images recorded with the application of a scanning electron microscopy show that the antibiotic interferes with the formation of functional cell walls of such young cells. The results of imaging reveal the formation of the amphotericin B-rich extramembranous structures and also binding of the drug molecules into the cell membranes and penetration into the cells. These two modes of action of amphotericin B are observed in the time scale of minutes.