Antimicrobial activity of human β-defensins against lactic acid bacteria

Abstract

In this study, we evaluated the antimicrobial activity of human β-defensin-1 (hBD-1), human β-defensin-2 (hBD-2) and human β-defensin-3 (hBD-3) against three internationally common probiotic strains of lactic acid bacterium. Our results indicated that hBD-1, hBD-2 and hBD-3 at the range of 0.08–10 μg/mL do not have obvious antimicrobial activity against these strains. Viability of Bifidobacterium longum JDM301 (B. longum JDM301), Bifidobacterium lactis HN019 (B. lactis HN019) and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) were still very high even at concentration of 10 μg hBD/mL. Then, we explored the mechanism of resistance by using carbonyl cyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) to inhibit efflux pumps. In the presence of CCCP, hBD-1, hBD-2 and hBD-3 exhibited enhanced antibacterial effect against B. longum JDM301 and B. lactis HN019, but not against LGG. Efflux pumps in B. longum JDM301 and B. lactis HN019 may partly contribute to their resistance to hBD-1, hBD-2, and hBD-3.

Keywords::

• human β-defensin
• probiotics
• efflux pump
• antimicrobial peptide
• defensin

Funding

This work was supported by the Beingmate Group Company Limited (China), the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 81200265] and the Shanghai Health Bureau Scientific Research Foundation [grant number 2011Y168].

Notes

^1. These authors contributed equally to this work.