Phosphoproteomics analysis reveals the anti-bacterial and anti-virulence mechanism of eugenol against Staphylococcus aureus and its application in meat products
Hong Lia, Changzhu Lib, Ce Shia, Metab Alharbic, Haiying Cuia d✉, Lin Lina b e✉
- aSchool of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
- bState Key Laboratory of Utilization of Woody Oil Resource, Hunan Academy of Forestry, Changsha 410007, China
- cDepartment of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
- dSchool of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China. Electronic address: cuihaiying@ujs.edu.cn
- eState Key Laboratory of Utilization of Woody Oil Resource, Hunan Academy of Forestry, Changsha 410007, China. Electronic address: linl@ujs.edu.cn
- ✉Corresponding author
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Abstract
The increasing risk of food poisoning caused by Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) contamination has aroused great concern about food safety. Eugenol is highly favored due to its broad-spectrum antibacterial activity and non-drug resistance property. The study aimed to reveal the anti-bacterial and anti-virulence mechanisms of eugenol against S. aureus using phosphoproteomics. The results indicated that eugenol could inhibit the phosphorylation levels of enzyme I in the bacterial phosphotransferase system (PTS). Meanwhile, it could also inhibit the phosphorylation levels of key enzymes in bacterial carbon metabolism (such as glucose-6-phosphate isomerase of glycolysis and succinyl-CoA synthetase of tricarboxylic acid cycle), thereby decreasing the content of ATP and accelerating bacterial death. In addition, eugenol could inhibit the phosphorylation of AgrA in the quorum sensing system, thereby inhibiting the expression of agr operons (agrA and agrC) and downstream virulence genes (RNAIII, hla and seb). Finally, the application on beef indicated that eugenol could effectively decrease the content of enterotoxins and improve its storage quality. These findings provide a new way for eugenol to prevent S. aureus contamination and food poisoning in meat products.