Biogenic tellurium nanorods as a novel antivirulence agent inhibiting pyoverdine production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract

While antibiotic resistance in bacteria is rapidly increasing, the development of new antibiotics has decreased in recent years. Antivirulence drugs disarming rather than killing pathogens have been proposed to alleviate the problem of resistance inherent to existing biocidal antibiotics. Here, we report a nontoxic biogenic nanomaterial as a novel antivirulence agent to combat bacterial infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We synthesized, in an environmentally benign fashion, tellurium nanorods (TeNRs) using the metal-reducing bacterium Shewanella oneidensis, and found that the biogenic TeNRs could effectively inhibit the production of pyoverdine, one of the most important virulence factors in P. aeruginosa. Our results suggest that amyloids and extracellular polysaccharides Pel and Psl are not involved in the interactions between P. aeruginosa and the biogenic TeNRs, while flagellar movement plays an important role in the cell-TeNRs interaction. We further showed that the TeNRs (up to 100 µg/mL) did not exhibit cytotoxicity to human bronchial epithelial cells and murine macrophages. Thus, biogenic TeNRs hold promise as a novel antivirulence agent against P. aeruginosa.

Glutathione Reductase-Mediated Synthesis of Tellurium-Containing Nanostructures Exhibiting Antibacterial Properties

“…The same antibacterial properties were then reported using Te nanostructures against S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, and Klebsiella pneumoniae (37). Moreover, recently an interesting observation was made by Mohanty and colleagues (38), who reported that tellurium nanorods possessed antivirulence properties against P. aeruginosa and were able to effectively inhibit the production of pyoverdine, one of the main virulence factors in this bacterium. The exact mechanism of action of tellurium nanorods remains unclear.…”

“…6). Similar noncytotoxic properties were observed with tellurium nanorods against human bronchial epithelial cells and murine macrophages (38). Additional experiments are under way to determine the effectiveness of the TeNSs against other, different bacterial species and to confirm their apparent nonnoxious properties against mammalian cells.…”

Formation and characterization of extracellular polymeric substance from Shewanella xiamenensis BC01 under calcium stimulation

“…The versatility of Shewanella sp. extended to other metal electron acceptors, such as uranium, chromium, silver and even the reduction of nitro-aromatic compounds and tellurite [2][3][4][5][6]. Moreover, the production of sulphide and the reduction of elemental sulphur was also a special property of Shewanella genus.…”

Membrane permeabilization underlies the enhancement of extracellular bioactivity in Shewanella oneidensis by a membrane-spanning conjugated oligoelectrolyte

“…Protein quantification was performed using BCA assay. The iTRAQ-based proteomic analysis was conducted as mentioned elsewhere (Mohanty et al 2013). …”

“…The RNA concentration was determined using Nanodrop spectrophotometer (Thermoscientific, DE, USA). The qPCR reactions and the data analysis were conducted as described elsewhere (Mohanty et al 2013). The primers used in qPCR are shown in Table S1.…”