Investigation on anti pathogenic potential of a polyherbal formulation Enteropan against certain human pathogenic bacteria

Abstract

Anti-pathogenic potential of a polyherbal formulation Enteropan® was investigated against newlinethree different bacterial pathogens viz. Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and newlineChromobacterium violaceum. Virulence of test pathogens was assessed using Caenorhabditis newlineelegans as a model host. P. aeruginosa was found to be the most susceptible among all test newlinepathogens to the formulation Enteropan. Enteropan-pre-exposed P. aeruginosa displayed newlinereduced (~70%and#8595;) virulence towards the model host Caenorhabditis elegans. Enteropan newlineaffected various traits like biofilm formation, protein synthesis and secretion, quorummodulated newlinepigment production, antibiotic susceptibility, nitrogen metabolism, etc., in this newlinepathogen. P. aeruginosa could not develop complete resistance to the virulence-attenuating newlineactivity of Enteropan even after repeated exposure to this polyherbal formulation. Whole newlinetranscriptome analysis showed 17% of P. aeruginosa genome to get differentially expressed newlineunder influence of Enteropan. Major mechanisms through which Enteropan exerted its antivirulence newlineactivity were found to be generation of nitrosative stress, oxidative stress, envelop newlinestress, quorum modulation, disturbance of protein homeostasis and metal homeostasis. newlineNetwork analysis of the differently expressed genes resulted in identification of 10 proteins newlinewith high network centrality as potential targets from among the downregulated genes. newlineDifferential expression of genes coding for five (rpoA, tig, rpsB, rpsL, and rpsJ) of these targets newlinewas validated through real-time polymerase chain reaction too, and they can further be pursued newlineas potential targets by various drug discovery programmes. newlineKeywords: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), Anti-virulence, Caenorhabditis elegans, newlineIron/Sulphur homeostasis, Metal homeostasis, Network analysis, Nitrosative stress, newlinePolyherbal, Transcriptome newline