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312 || AWSAR Awarded Popular Science Stories - 2019
damaged DNA. So if we can modulate RecA function we will be able to slow down the evaluation of antibiotic resistance.
Throughout the world, several scientists are working to search for small
molecules (low molecular
weight and organic molecules
that can modulate biological
functions) that can inhibit
RecA function. Presently, very
few compounds have been
reported as RecA inhibitor, such
as metal cations; zinc, copper,
mercury (Prof. Scott F. Singleton
group, School of Pharmacy,
Division of Medicinal Chemistry
and Natural Products, The
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, USA) chemical
compounds; Suramin (Prof. K.
Muniyappa group, Department
Biochemistry, IISc, Bengaluru), phthalocyanine tetrasulfonate (Professor C. Ronald Geyer Department of Biochemistry, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada) and natural compound curcumin (Professor Giuseppe Celenza Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of Aquila, Italy). To
our knowledge, there is no report on natural small-molecule as RecA inhibitor except curcumin. So we have taken up this research problem and started to screen natural small
molecule from common food sources, which have the ability to modulate RecA functions. We have screened several compounds and we observed that p-Coumaric acid phenolic compounds widely distributed in cereals, fruits, and vegetables as a potent RecA inhibitor. We observed p-Coumaric acid inhibited L. monocytogenes and E. coli RecA proteins mediated activities in vitro such as ssDNA binding, Displacement-loop formation, strand exchange, and co- protease functions. Further, to strengthen our data we
also treated L. monocytogenes cells with p-Coumaric acid. We observed that bacterial cell survival has not been affected due to p-Coumeric acid treatment, but it has the ability to potentiate the activity of antibiotic ciprofloxacinbyreducingdrasticcellsurvival. It has also inhibited bacterial cell defensive
our study suggested that a potent RecA inhibitor can be used as a therapeutic agent to slow down the development of the process of antibiotic resistance in superbugs by modulating the SOS response. These findings revealed that p-Coumaric acid is proven to be a potent RecA inhibitor.
Fig 1.Cartoon shows how the RecA inhibitor can be used adjuvant to existing antibiotics and increase its efficiency against superbug.