Effect of Kojic Acid on the expression of virulence genes of Staphylococcus aureus
Effect of Kojic Acid on the expression of virulence genes of Staphylococcus aureus
Masoumeh Eslamifar,1Hami Kaboosi,2Majid Saeedi,3,*Reza Valadan,4Fatemeh Peyravii Ghadikolaii,5
1. Department of Microbiology, Ayatollah Amoli Branch, Islamic Azad University, Amol Iran 2. Department of Microbiology, Ayatollah Amoli Branch, Islamic Azad University, Amol Iran 3. Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran 4. Department of Immunology, Molecular and Cellular Biology Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran 5. Department of Biology, Qaemshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr, Iran
Introduction: Introduction: Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most significant human pathogens that causes various sorts of diseases and invasive infections. Recently, due to the resistance of this bacterium to several medications, it has become difficult to treat infections caused by it. The use of biological compounds to control infections might be a solution to this challenge. This study aimed to investigate the influence of Kojic acid on the expression of some virulence factors of S. aureus.
Methods: Materials and Methods: A total of 67 isolates of S. aureus that were collected from hospital sources, were identified and investigated by standard diagnostic and molecular techniques. Then, effect of Kojic Acid on the standard and isolated S. aureus strains was investigated. The expression levels of α-hemolysin and enterotoxin A genes were measured in the presence and absence of Kojic acid using a Real-Time PCR technique. The obtained data were analyzed using standard statistical methods in SPSS software (version 16) and Prism-GraphPad software. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant in the comparative data.
Results: Results: The results of the MIC of Kojic acid showed that the minimum concentration of Kojic acid that inhibits the growth of S. aureus was equal to 10 mM. As a result, the expression of hla gene was decreased 9-fold and the expression levels of sea gene was only decreased 2.7-fold.
Conclusion: Conclusion: In this study, the desirable effects of Kojic acid on S. aureus strains were observed. Due to the high inhibitory effect of the sub-MIC of Kojic acid on the expression of virulence factor genes in S.aureus, this compound could potentially reduce the virulence of S. aureus.