Bacillomycin D effectively controls growth of Malassezia globosa by disrupting the cell membrane

• Published in: Applied microbiology and biotechnology Vol. 104; no. 8; pp. 3529 - 3540
• Main Authors: Wu, Tao, Chen, Meirong, Zhou, Libang, Lu, Fengxia, Bie, Xiaomei, Lu, Zhaoxin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-04-2020; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Amphotericin B; Analysis; Antifungal agents; Antifungal Agents - pharmacology; Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides - pharmacology; Applied Microbial and Cell Physiology; Bacillomycin; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Cell death; Cell Membrane - drug effects; Cell membranes; Control; Disorders; Disruption; Drugs; Ergosterol; Ergosterol - pharmacology; Fatty acids; Fungi; Fungicides; Gene expression; Identification and classification; Ketoconazole; Life Sciences; Malassezia - drug effects; Malassezia - growth & development; Malassezia globosa; Membrane permeability; Membranes; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Microbiology; Opportunist infection; Peptides; Permeability; Properties; Skin diseases; Sorbitol - pharmacology; Synergistic effect; China; Bacillomycin D; Ergosterol; Synergistic effect; Malassezia globosa
• ISSN: 0175-7598; 1432-0614
• DOI: 10.1007/s00253-020-10462-w

Malassezia globosa
is an opportunistic pathogen that causes various skin disorders, which disturbs people’s life all the time, and conventional drugs are not completely satisfactory. Bacillomycin D (BD), an antifungal lipopeptide, could inhibit various fungi growth. However, the reports about its effect on
M. globosa
were not found yet. In this study, we showed that BD and BD-C16 (fatty acid chain had sixteen carbon atoms) completely inhibited growth of
M. globosa
at concentration of 64 μg/ml in 15 h, which was confirmed with the observation of irregular morphological change of
M. globosa
treated with BD. Significantly, the study on the working mechanism showed that BD induced cell death by changing cell membrane permeability and thus promoting the release of cellular contents, which may be mediated by the interaction between BD and ergosterol from membrane. Further study showed that BD reduced the overall content of cellular sterol, and interestingly, the expression of some genes involved in membrane and ergosterol synthesis were significantly upregulated, which was likely to be a feedback regulation. Besides, we found that BD had additive and synergistic effects with ketoconazole and amphotericin B, respectively, on inhibition of
M. globosa
, suggesting that combination use of BD with other commercial drugs could be a promising strategy to relieve skin disorders caused by
M. globosa
.
Key Points
•
BD could efficiently inhibit the growth of M. globosa.
•
BD increases cell membrane permeability and thus promotes the release of cellular contents.
•
BD has additive or synergistic effect with other antifungal drugs.