Antimicrobial activity of PVP from an Antarctic bacterium, Janthinobacterium sp. Ant5-2, on multi-drug and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus

• Published in: Natural Products and Bioprospecting
• Main Authors: Huang, Jonathan P., Mojib, Nazia, Goli, Rakesh R., Watkins, Samantha, Waites, Ken B., Ravindra, Rasik, Andersen, Dale T., Bej, Asim K.
• Other Authors: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294-1170 USA, Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294-1170 USA, Head Land Sada, National Centre for Antarctic & Ocean Research, Vasco-da-Gama Goa, 403804 India, Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043 USA
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature 2012
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10754/334610; https://doi.org/10.1007/s13659-012-0021-4

Multiple drug resistant (MDR) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have become increasingly prevalent as a community acquired infection. As a result limited treatment options are available with conventional synthetic antibiotics. Bioprospecting natural products with potent antimicrobial activity show promise for developing new drugs against this pathogen. In this study, we have investigated the antimicrobial activity of a purple violet pigment (PVP) from an Antarctic bacterium, Janthinobacterium sp. Ant5-2 on 15 clinical MDR and MRSA strains. The colorimetric resazurin assay was employed to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC90) of PVP against MDR and MRSA. The MIC90 ranged between 1.57 µg/mL and 3.13 µg/mL, which are significantly lower than many antimicrobials tested from natural sources against this pathogen. The spectrophotometrically determined growth analysis and total microscopic counts using Live/dead® BacLight™ fluorescent stain exhibited a steady decrease in viability of both MDR and MRSA cultures following treatment with PVP at the MIC levels. In silico predictive molecular docking study revealed that PVP could be a DNA-targeting minor groove binding antimicrobial compound. The continued development of novel antimicrobials derived from natural sources with the combination of a suite of conventional antibiotics could stem the rising pandemic of MDR and MRSA along with other deadly microbial pathogens.