Characterization of tryptanthrin as an antibacterial reagent inhibiting Vibrio splendidus

Abstract Isolates of Vibrio splendidus are ubiquitously presented in various marine environments, and they can infect diverse marine culture animals, leading to high mortality and economic loss. Therefore, a control strategy of the infection caused by V. splendidus is urgently recommended. Tryptanthrin is a naturally extracted bioactive chemical with antimicrobial activity to other bacteria. In this study, the effects of tryptanthrin on the bacterial growth and virulence-related factors of one pathogenic strain V. splendidus AJ01 were determined. Tryptanthrin (10 μg/mL) could completely inhibit the growth of V. splendidus AJ01. The virulence-related factors of V. splendidus AJ01 were affected in the presence of tryptanthrin. Tryptanthrin resulted an increase in biofilm formation, but lead to reduction in the motility and hemolytic activity of V. splendidus cells. In the cells treated with tryptanthrin, two distinctly differentially expressed extracellular proteins, proteases and flagellum, were identified using SDS – PAGE combined with LC – MS. Real-time reverse transcriptase PCR confirmed that the genes involved in the flagellar formation and hemolysin decreased, whereas specific extracellular proteases and the genes involved in the biofilm formation were upregulated. Two previously annotated luxO Vs genes were cloned, and their expression levels were analyzed at different cell densities. Molecular docking was performed to predict the interaction between LuxO Vs and ATP/tryptanthrin. The two sigma-54-dependent transcriptional regulators showed similar ATP or tryptanthrin binding capacity but with different sites, and the direct competitive binding between ATP and tryptanthrin was present only in their binding to LuxO 1 . These results indicated that tryptanthrin can be used as a bactericide of V. splendidus by inhibiting the growth, bacterial flagella, and extracellular proteases, but increasing the biofilm. Sigma-54-dependent transcriptional regulator, especially the quorum sensing regulatory protein LuxO 1 , was determined to be the potential target of tryptanthrin. Key points • Tryptanthrin inhibited the growth of V. splendidus in a dose-dependent manner. • The effect of tryptanthrin on the virulence factors of V. splendidus was characterized. • LuxO was the potential target for tryptanthrin based on molecular docking.