Effect of conA-unbound proteins from Melipona beecheii honey on the formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 biofilm.

ABSTRACT

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic bacterium that can form a biofilm with the ability to colonize different surfaces and for increasing resistance to antibiotics. An alternative to solve this problem may be the use of non-glucose/mannose glycosylated proteins from Melipona beecheii honey, which are capable of inhibiting the growth of this pathogen. In this work, the antibiofilm activity of the conA-unbound protein fraction (F1) from M. beecheii was evaluated. The crude protein extract (CPE) and the F1 fraction inhibited the P. aeruginosa biofilm growth above 80% at 4 and 1.3 µg/mL, respectively. These proteins affected the structure of the biofilm, as well as fleQ and fleR gene expressions involved in the formation and regulation of the P. aeruginosa biofilm. The results demonstrated that the F1 fraction proteins of M. beecheii honey inhibit and affect the formation of the P. aeruginosa biofilm.