New Derivatives of Pyridoxine Exhibit High Antibacterial Activity against Biofilm-Embedded Staphylococcus Cells

Opportunistic bacteria Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis often form rigid biofilms on tissues and inorganic surfaces. In the biofilm bacterial cells are embedded in a self-produced polysaccharide matrix and thereby are inaccessible to biocides, antibiotics, or host immune system. Here we show the antibacterial activity of newly synthesized cationic biocides, the quaternary ammonium, and bisphosphonium salts of pyridoxine (vitamin B6) against biofilm-embedded Staphylococci. The derivatives of 6-hydroxymethylpyridoxine were ineffective against biofilm-embedded S. aureus and S. epidermidis at concentrations up to 64 μg/mL, although all compounds tested exhibited low MICs (2 μg/mL) against planktonic cells. In contrast, the quaternary ammonium salt of pyridoxine (N,N-dimethyl-N-((2,2,8-trimethyl-4H-[1,3]dioxino[4,5-c]pyridin-5-yl)methyl)octadecan-1-aminium chloride (3)) demonstrated high biocidal activity against both planktonic and biofilm-embedded bacteria. Thus, the complete death of biofilm-embedded S. aureus and S. epidermidis cells was obtained at concentrations of 64 and 16 μg/mL, respectively. We suggest that the quaternary ammonium salts of pyridoxine are perspective to design new synthetic antibiotics and disinfectants for external application against biofilm-embedded cells

Iron metabolic pathways in the processes of sponge plasticity.

The ability to regulate oxygen consumption evolved in ancestral animals and is intrinsically linked to iron metabolism. The iron pathways have been intensively studied in mammals, whereas data on distant invertebrates are limited. Sea sponges represent the oldest animal phylum and have unique structural plasticity and capacity to reaggregate after complete dissociation. We studied iron metabolic factors and their expression during reaggregation in the White Sea cold-water sponges Halichondria panicea and Halisarca dujardini. De novo transcriptomes were assembled using RNA-Seq data, and evolutionary trends were analyzed with bioinformatic tools. Differential expression during reaggregation was studied for H. dujardini. Enzymes of the heme biosynthesis pathway and transport globins, neuroglobin (NGB) and androglobin (ADGB), were identified in sponges. The globins mutate at higher evolutionary rates than the heme synthesis enzymes. Highly conserved iron-regulatory protein 1 (IRP1) presumably interacts with the iron-responsive elements (IREs) found in mRNAs of ferritin (FTH1) and a putative transferrin receptor NAALAD2. The reaggregation process is accompanied by increased expression of IRP1, the antiapoptotic factor BCL2, the inflammation factor NFκB (p65), FTH1 and NGB, as well as by an increase in mitochondrial density. Our data indicate a complex mechanism of iron regulation in sponge structural plasticity and help to better understand general mechanisms of morphogenetic processes in multicellular species