Antibacterial Activity and Mechanism of Peptide PV-Q5 against Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Escherichia coli, Derived from Salt-Fermented Penaeus vannamei

Abstract

The increasing threat posed by antibiotic-resistant pathogens has prompted a shift to the use of naturally-derived antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in place of chemical preservatives in controlling foodborne pathogens. In this study, ten peptides were identified from salt-fermented shrimps (Penaeus vannamei) using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. One of the peptides, designated PV-Q5 (QVRNFPRGSAASPSALASPR), with most features of an AMP, was further explored and found to possess strong antibacterial activity against Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Escherichia coli, with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 31.25 μg/mL. Moreover, PV-Q5 increased bacterial cell membrane permeability and ruptured bacteria cell membranes, as revealed by transmission electron microscopy. Circular dichroism analysis showed that the conformation of PV-Q5 was a random coil in phosphate-buffered saline and α-helical in sodium dodecyl sulfate, which is conducive for interaction with bacteria cell membranes. These findings indicated that PV-Q5 could find potential use in food preservation to control foodborne pathogenic bacteria.

Effect of sublethal dose of chloramphenicol on biofilm formation and virulence in Vibrio parahaemolyticus

“…There are currently many studies exploring the anti-virulence and anti-biofilm strategies toward bacteria ( Imchen et al, 2022 ; Law and Tan, 2022 ). Findings show that some substances including cationic surfactants such as benzalkonium chloride ( Park and Yoon, 2023 ), chemicals such as Rhein ( Folliero et al, 2022 ) and 2,6-Di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol ( Santhakumari et al, 2018 ), peptides such as MSI-I ( Ye et al, 2021 ) and PV-Q5 ( Dai et al, 2023 ), and traditional chinese medicine such as gingerol ( Shukla et al, 2021 ) and Ulva fasciata ( Qiao et al, 2021 ) possess anti-virulence and/or anti-biofilm activity. Compared to antibiotics such as chloramphenicol, these substances have obvious advantages, such as less susceptibility to bacterial resistance.…”