Antibacterial activity and antivirulence study of isolated diterpenes from Copaifera ssp. species against multi-resistant strains

• Grant number: 15/26376-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): April 01, 2016
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Applied Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Henrique Gomes Martins
• Grantee: Ana Luiza Caetano Gomes
• Host Institution: Reitoria. Universidade de Franca (UNIFRAN). Franca , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Nowadays, incidences of micro-organisms increasingly resistant to the antimicrobial available at contemporary therapy has been growing both in hospitals and in the community environment and are a global health problem. These micro-organisms spread more and more, however some factors contribute to this increase, as indiscriminate use of antibiotics by the population and scarcity in the discovery of new antimicrobials, reducing thus alternatives to fight them. Due this great urgency, natural products can be considered an important strategy. Brazil has a very popular and varied pharmacopoeia based on medicinal plants, representing a major source of active substances that can be used in therapy because of the large structural diversity of metabolites produced. One of the most notorious species of plants with medicinal use in Brazil is the Copaifera.ssp, popularly known as copaiba, it has inside its bole, an oleoresin consisting of a mixture of diterpenes and sesquiterpenes. Ten species of Copaiferas found in Brazil has been studied regarding the oleoresin chemical composition, which resulted in the identification of more than 100 sesquiterpenes and 40 diterpenes. Nevertheless, few studies of biological activities of these compounds were done. Because of the insufficient biological studies, new antimicrobial and shortage, constant increase of multiresistant microorganisms, we aim with this project to evaluate the antimicrobial activity and antivirulence of isolated diterpenes from Copaifera spp species facing a condition of Gram-positive and Gram-negative multiresistant bacteria, using the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), diterpenes activity on the virulence factors produced by Staphylococcus aureus, identification in the strains of S. aureus of the encoding genes of Panton-Valentine leukocidine and genes expression after treatments with the diterpenes. Considering the great potential of diterpenes as future antimicrobial, this study will contribute to a better understanding of their biological activities.