Synergistic Combination of Biodegradable Peptide Polymer and Curcumin as Promising Antibiotic Substitution in Aquaculture to Alleviate the Global Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance

Abstract

Comprehensive Summary The massive use of antibiotics in aquaculture and resulted antibacterial resistance problem urgently need antibiotic substitutions. Herein, we report a promising substitution of aquaculture antibiotics using a synergistic combination of biodegradable peptide polymers and curcumin, a natural compound from plant. The synergistic combination shows strong antibacterial activity against V. fluvialis and some other common bacteria in aquaculture. The membrane‐damaging antibacterial mechanism echoes our finding that the synergistic combination will not induce bacteria to develop resistance after continuous use. The synergistic combination also displays effective cure on V. fluvialis‐infected zebrafish. The biodegradability of the peptide polymer enables the combination to lose antibacterial activity and will not cause selective pressure on bacterial in the environment. Our study indicates potential application of synergistic composition, biodegradable peptide polymer and curcumin, as promising antibiotic substitution in aquaculture, which represents a promising strategy to address the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance.

Dual Functional Diblock Amino Acid Copolymer Displaying Synergistic Effect with Curcumin against MRSA and Encapsulation of Curcumin†

“…The Zeta potential assay was conducted according to previous literature with little modifications. [ 43 ] Staphylococcus aureus USA300 (MRSA) cultured overnight was diluted with phosphate buffer saline (PBS) to 2 × 10 7 CFU/mL. 500 μL of bacteria suspension was merged with an equal volume of curcumin, PLL 20 ‐ b ‐PBLG 20 and their combination to a final concentration of curcumin (50 μg/mL) and PLL 20 ‐ b ‐PBLG 20 (12.5 μg/mL).…”

AMP-Mimetic Antimicrobial Polymer-Involved Synergic Therapy with Various Coagents for Improved Efficiency

“…In 2022, Liu et al reported a promising substitution of aquaculture antibiotics using a synergistic combination of poly(L-Lys) 80 -r-poly(L-Ser) 20 and curcumin. 50 The synergistic combination showed strong antibacterial activity against V. f luvialis and some other common bacteria in aquaculture. The antimicrobial combination exhibited remarkable bactericidal properties against V. fluvialis, S. agalactiae, and V. cholerae as a synergistic combination.…”

“…As polypeptides share a similar backbone with peptides and mimic their complexity, functionality, and performance, they have promising potential as biomimetic antimicrobials. In 2022, Liu et al reported a promising substitution of aquaculture antibiotics using a synergistic combination of poly( l -Lys) 80 - r -poly( l -Ser) 20 and curcumin . The synergistic combination showed strong antibacterial activity against V. fluvialis and some other common bacteria in aquaculture.…”

Synergistic Inhibitions of Gram‐Negative Bacteria by Combination Treatment with Ciprofloxacin and a Novel Glucolipid

“…One is to avoid the resistance mechanism of drug‐resistant bacteria and develop antimicrobial agents with new antibacterial mechanisms, [13] such as cationic polymers, [14] antimicrobial peptides, [15] and nanomaterials [16] in antibacterial applications. Another way is to combine antibiotics with non‐antibiotics to reverse the resistance of drug‐resistant bacteria, so that drug‐resistant bacteria can regain their sensitivity to traditional antibiotics [17–19] …”

“…Another way is to combine antibiotics with non-antibiotics to reverse the resistance of drug-resistant bacteria, so that drug-resistant bacteria can regain their sensitivity to traditional antibiotics. [17][18][19] Recently, we isolated a new glucolipid compound (1) (Figure 1) from the fermented extract of the Antarctic-sourced fungus Pseudogymnoascus sp. OUCMDZ-4032.…”