Reverting antibiotic tolerance of bacterial persisters by a brominated furanone, (Z)-4- bromo-5-(bromomethylene)-3-methylfuran-2(5H)-one

2^nd International Conference and Exhibition on Biowaivers & Biosimilars

September 23-25, 2013 Hilton Raleigh-Durham Airport at RTP, NC, USA

Jiachuan Pan and Dacheng Ren

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Bioanal Biomed

Abstract :

Persister cell is a small sub-population of bacterial cells which are tolerant to antibiotic treatment and hence is considered as a major reason for secondary infections and chronic infections. Since persister cell also facilitates the development of antibiotic-resistant mutants, it becomes a potent target to prevent antibiotic resistant infections. Recently, a synthetic analogue of a natural compound, (Z)-4-bromo-5-(bromomethylene)-3-methylfuran-2(5H)-one (BF8) was found to reduce persister formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli and restore the antibiotic susceptibility of isolated persister cells at growth-non-inhibitory concentrations. In addition, BF8 was also found to reduce the persister formation in the culture of P. aeruginosa PDO300, a representative of the strains commonly developed in the late stage of cystic fibrosis. Interestingly, BF8 was also demonstrated as an inhibitor of bacterial signaling system named quorum sensing, however, a signaling compound of P. aeruginosa quorum sensing system, N-(3-oxo-dodecanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone, was also found to restore the susceptibility of isolated persister cells of P. aeruginosa. In the genetic level, a DNA microarray study revealed that BF8 induced genes encoding oxidoreductases in both E. coli and P. aeruginosa persisters. The results from this study established that BF8 is a promising control of bacterial persistence and also suggested that other targets of BF8 rather than quorum sensing system are responsible for restoring the susceptibility of isolated persister cells.

Biography :

Jiachuan Pan has completed her Ph.D. from Syracuse University and in her 5-year study, she found a group of brominated furanones which reduced the antibiotic tolerance in P. aeruginosa and E. coli . She contributed four papers as the first author in reputed journals to demonstrate her work in reverting antibiotic tolerance and won a student award from American Society for Microbiology in 2012for her study.