Inhibitory effects of reuterin on biofilm formation, quorum sensing and virulence genes of Clostridium perfringens
Yibin Xu, Yuanyuan Wang, Xiaoqing Ding, Jiangshui Wang, Xiuan Zhan
Abstract
Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) have been considered as one of the most common causes of human and veterinary gastrointestinal diseases. Reuterin is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent produced by certain Lactobacillus reuteri (L. reuteri) strains. The present study showed that bioconversion reuterin from isolated probiotic L. reuteri (LR) 21 strain significantly inhibited bacterial growth and downregulated expression of virulence genes (p < 0.05). The DCFH-DA staining assays exhibited ROS are essential mediators of reuterin bactericidal activity. Reuterin at subinhibitory dose also inhibited Cp 13124 biofilm formation, which is probably owing its inhibitory effects on bacterial mobility. Besides, the interaction of Cp 13124 and LR 21 was investigated during co-cultures with or without glycerol. LR 21 combined with in situ reuterin production can induce more reductions (p < 0.05) in medium pH, cellular number, and alpha toxin production of Cp 13124 than that using probiotic LR 21 alone. In summary, this study showed great potential of reuterin as natural antibacterial and antibiofilm agent to address the contamination and infection caused by Cp 13124 and highlighted the positive effects of glycerol for L. reuteri strains to reduce C. perfringens infection.