Abstract
Microbial biofilms are considerably more resistant to antibiotics than planktonic cells. It has been reported that chitosan coupling with the aminoglycoside antibiotic streptomycin dramatically disrupted biofilms of several Gram-positive bacteria. This finding suggested the application of the covalent conjugate of antimicrobial natural polysaccharides and antibiotics on anti-infection therapy. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of the chitosan-streptomycin conjugate (CS-Strep) remains unclear and the poor water-solubility of the conjugate might restrict its applications for anti-infection therapy. In this study, we conjugated streptomycin with water-soluble chitosan oligosaccharides (COS). Unlike CS-Strep, the COS-streptomycin conjugate (COS-Strep) barely affected biofilms of tested Gram-positive bacteria. However, COS-Strep efficiently eradicated established biofilms of the Gram-negative pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This activity of COS-Strep was influenced by the degree of polymerization of chitosan oligosaccharide. The increased susceptibility of P. aeruginosa biofilms to antibiotics after conjugating might be related to the following: Suppression of the activation of MexX-MexY drug efflux pump system induced by streptomycin treatment; and down-regulation of the biosynthesis of biofilm exopolysaccharides. Thus, this work indicated that covalently linking antibiotics to chitosan oligosaccharides was a possible approach for the development of antimicrobial drugs against biofilm-related infections.