Atividade antimicrobiana de metabólitos secundários obtidos de leveduras ambientais do bioma cearense frente a cepas de bactérias patogênicas, incluindo Staphylococcus aureus resistentes à meticilina : atividade antibacteriana e investigação do mecanismo de ação

Abstract

The consequent and continuous use of antimicrobials led to the emergence of potentially lethal pathogens. ESKAPE (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumanii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa e Enterobacter sp.) microorganisms group stands towards others, in which Staphylococcus aureus infections stand out as the leading cause of systemic infections, with SARM being a major responsible for these infections in Brazil. Thus, the emergence of strains with reduced sensitivity accompanied by a limited antimicrobial therapy makes the search for new therapeutic options necessary. In this study, isolate yeasts from the northeaster region of Brazil, more specifically in Ceará state, were analysed in order to find antimicrobial metabolites with anti-SARM activity, as well as to find a description of a possible mechanism of action. In this paper, 13 yeasts were isolated and conditioned in different growing conditions, in order to optimize the growth of the isolates. In addition, it was explored whether extracts from yeast produced new secondary metabolites with antimicrobial properties. 59% (11) of the obtained extracts were active against Gram positive bacteria and 32% (7) were active against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. These more active extracts showed activity against SARM and had MIC ranging between 34-192 µg/mL. Analysis by flow cytometer showed that these extracts were capable of causing damage to the plasma membrane and of promoting bacterial DNA fragmentation, leading the cell to cell death by apoptosis. In cytotoxic tests using the MTT test with human leukocyte cells, the secondary metabolites showed low cytotoxicity. Chemical analysis revealed structurally different secondary metabolites, including the compounds pyrrolo [1,2-a] pyrazine-1,4-dione, Hexahydro-3- (phenyl methyl) Laurie acid and, as described in the literature for their properties against MSSA and SARM as well as other known metabolites were identified in the remaining extracts, suggesting that these strains can produce new molecules. Within this context, the antimicrobial activity and the low cytotoxic potential demonstrated by these extracts reveal a class of promising chemical compounds to the development of new antibiotics. However, more pharmacological studies will be done to confirm these data.