Antibacterial Activity of the Essential Oil From Litsea cubeba Against Cutibacterium acnes and the Investigations of Its Potential Mechanism by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Metabolomics

• Published in: Frontiers in microbiology Vol. 13; p. 823845
• Main Authors: Chen, Jing, Zhang, Jianing, Zhu, Longping, Qian, Chunguo, Tian, Hongru, Zhao, Zhimin, Jin, Lu, Yang, Depo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 02.03.2022
• Subjects: antibacterial; Cutibacterium acnes; essential oil; GC-MS untargeted metabolomics; Litsea cubeba; Microbiology; antibacterial; Cutibacterium acnes; essential oil; Litsea cubeba; GC-MS untargeted metabolomics
• ISSN: 1664-302X; 1664-302X
• DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.823845

( ) is an anaerobic Gram-positive bacterium generally considered as a human skin commensal, but is also involved in different infections, such as and surgical infections. Although there are a variety of treatments, the side effects and the problem of bacterial drug resistance still limit their clinical usage. In this study, we found that essential oil (EO) distilled from fresh mature possessed promising antibacterial activity against In order to elucidate its potential mechanism, bacteriostatic activity test, Live/Dead kit assay, scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and metabolomics were employed. In addition, the content of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in bacterium and the activities of key enzymes involved in critical metabolic pathways were detected using a variety of biochemical assays. The results showed that EO exhibited significant antibacterial activity against at a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 400 μg/mL and a minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of 800 μg/mL, and EO could destroy morphology and inhibit its growth. Moreover, results from our study showed that EO had a significant effect on the normal metabolism. In total, 86 metabolites were altered, and 34 metabolic pathways related to the carbohydrate metabolism, energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, as well as cell wall and cell membrane synthesis were perturbed after EO administration. The synthesis of ATP in bacterial cells was also severely inhibited, and the activities of key enzymes of the glycolysis and Wood-Werkman cycle were significantly affected (Pyruvate Carboxylase, Malate Dehydrogenase and Pyruvate kinase activities were decreased, and Hexokinase was increased). Taken together, these results illustrated that the bacteriostatic effect of EO against by breaking the bacterial cell morphology and perturbing cell metabolism, including inhibition of key enzyme activity and ATP synthesis. The results from our study may shed new light on the discovery of novel drugs with more robust efficacy.