Light-emitting bacteria are the most abundant and widespread luminescent organisms. Most species of such bacteria live in marine environments. However, until recently, biological role of bacterial luminescence remained unknown. Recent studies indicated that light produced in bacterial cells may stimulate DNA repair. Therefore, it is not surprising that agents that cause DNA damage induce expression of lux genes. Moreover, it was proposed previously that bacterial luciferases may be involved in detoxification of reactive oxygen species. Recently, this hypothesis was confirmed experimentally. Here we investigated effects of hydrogen peroxide on light emission by various strains of luminescent bacteria. We found that luminescence of strains with luciferase of fast kinetics of reaction decreased at considerably lower concentrations of H2O2 than that of strains with luciferase of the slow kinetics. The action (either direct or indirect) of luciferases as anti-oxidants seemed to be independent of activity of catalase, which was found to be different in various strains. Therefore, it seems that luciferases of the slow kinetics are more efficient in detoxification of reactive oxygen species than those of the fast kinetics.
We report in this work the synthesis, cytotoxicity, and antimicrobial activity of ([1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-c]quinazolin-2-ylthio)carboxylic acid amides 4-7 in connection with our previous research in the preparation of triazoloquinazoline derivatives. Due to simplicity, general availability of starting materials, and high yields, the most reliable method of synthesis appeared to be the one with N,N-carbonyldiimidazole activation stage. The chemical structures of all obtained substances were deduced from FT-IR, (1)H-NMR, EI-MS, and LC-MS spectral data. The results of cytotoxicity evaluated by bioluminescence inhibition of bacterium Photobacterium leiognathi, strain Sh1 showed that compounds 4.1, 4.6, and 6.1 were the most cytotoxic. Investigation of the antimicrobial and antifungal activity of amides 4-7 (concentration 5 mg/mL) was carried out by the stiff-plate agar-diffusion method. We found that the compounds possessed low (4.1, 4.7) antifungal activity against Candida tenuis and strong (4.21, 5.1, 5.9) or inefficient (4.7, 4.12, 4.16) activity against Aspergillus niger. Substances 5.1 and 5.9 slightly affected Mycobacterium luteum. Staphylococcus aureus was resistant to all obtained substances, and only the n-butyramide derivatives 7.1 and 7.5 inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli. Hence, there was no strong correlation between bioluminescence inhibition and antimicrobial activity of the investigated substances.
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