Biofouling poses a significant economic threat to various marine industries, leading to financial losses that can reach billions of euros annually. This study highlights the urgent need for effective alternatives to traditional antifouling agents, particularly following the global ban on organotin compounds. PTM-346 was isolated from sediment samples on the shores of the Madeira Archipelago, Portugal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Estremadura Spur pockmarks are a unique and unexplored ecosystem located in the North Atlantic, off the coast of Portugal. A total of 85 marine-derived actinomycetes were isolated and cultured from sediments collected from this ecosystem at a depth of 200 to 350 m. Nine genera, , , , , , , , , and were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing analyses, from which the first two were the most predominant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe undesired attachment of micro and macroorganisms on water-immersed surfaces, known as marine biofouling, results in severe prevention and maintenance costs (billions €/year) for aquaculture, shipping and other industries that rely on coastal and off-shore infrastructures. To date, there are no sustainable, cost-effective and environmentally safe solutions to address this challenging phenomenon. Therefore, we investigated the antifouling activity of napyradiomycin derivatives that were isolated from actinomycetes from ocean sediments collected off the Madeira Archipelago.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrob Agents Chemother
October 2019
Glutamate amidation, a secondary modification of the peptidoglycan, was first identified in It is catalyzed by the protein products of the and genes, which are conserved and colocalized in the genomes of most sequenced Gram-positive bacterial species. The MurT-GatD complex is required for cell viability, full resistance to β-lactam antibiotics, and resistance to human lysozyme and is recognized as an attractive target for new antimicrobials. Great effort has been invested in the study of this step, culminating recently in three independent reports addressing the structural elucidation of the MurT-GatD complex.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe search for new and effective strategies to reduce bacterial biofilm formation is of utmost importance as bacterial resistance to antibiotics continues to emerge. The use of anti-biofilm agents that can disrupt recalcitrant bacterial communities can be an advantageous alternative to antimicrobials, as their use does not lead to the development of resistance mechanisms. Six MAR4 Streptomyces strains isolated from the Madeira Archipelago, at the unexplored Macaronesia Atlantic ecoregion, were used to study the chemical diversity of produced hybrid isoprenoids.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBacteria have to avoid recognition by the host immune system in order to establish a successful infection. Peptidoglycan, the principal constituent of virtually all bacterial surfaces, is a specific molecular signature recognized by dedicated host receptors, present in animals and plants, which trigger an immune response. Here we report that autolysins from Gram-positive pathogenic bacteria, enzymes capable of hydrolyzing peptidoglycan, have a major role in concealing this inflammatory molecule from Drosophila peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this communication, we describe evidence demonstrating the capacity of Atl, the major Staphylococcus aureus autolytic enzyme to bind DNA. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) show that both the Atl protein and the endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (GL) domain were able to bind DNA of nonspecific sequence. The implications of this unexpected observation for the physiology of S.
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