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The Cytotoxicity and Virulence of Microorganisms and Their Potential Applications...
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The Cytotoxicity and Virulence of Microorganisms and Their Potential Applications in Biomedicine

A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 5716

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ana Sofia Duarte

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Health (CIIS), Faculty of Dental Medicine (FMD), Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 3504-505 Viseu, Portugal
Interests: virulence; cytotoxicity; microbial biotechnology; biomedicine; biomaterials; science communication
Dr. Ana Peixoto Gomes

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Health (CIIS), Faculty of Dental Medicine (FMD), Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 3504-505 Viseu, Portugal
Interests: antimicrobial agents; cytotoxicity; biocompatibility; oral microbiome; biomedicine

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Virulence genes and their cytotoxic effects contribute to the pathogenicity of microorganisms, especially when in association with antimicrobial resistance traits.

As antibiotics and antifungals lose their effectiveness, the severity of infections and therapy failure tend to increase, which poses a serious public health threat.

However, microbial diversity and richness are irrefutable, and yet-to-be-discovered virulence factors and toxins may offer a wealth of knowledge on infection mechanisms and on how to control infectious and non-infectious diseases. In addition to their potential use as antimicrobial sources, microorganisms produce a multiplicity of compounds that may have a role in numerous areas of biomedicine and provide different forms of therapy.

At this point, it is of capital importance to discover and characterize new microbial molecules of therapeutic relevance, and to build knowledge on their safety profile.

In this Special Issue of Life entitled “The Cytotoxicity and Virulence of Microorganisms and Their Potential Applications in Biomedicine”, we encourage researchers to send their research papers or reviews dealing with these topics:

  • Microbial diversity: native microbial strains as a source of natural compounds to be used in biomedicine;
  • Phenotypical, physiological, and multi-omics approaches to evaluate microbial traits useful for medical applications;
  • Health risk assessment of microbial strains and natural compounds.

Due to the urgent demand for new and safe antimicrobial strategies and materials to be used in biomedicine to control virulent microorganisms, we also encourage researchers to submit their scientific achievements on:

  • New alternative therapies to antibiotics;
  • Antimicrobial activity of new drugs/materials for the inactivation of pathogens.

Dr. Ana Sofia Duarte
Dr. Ana Peixoto Gomes
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Life is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • virulence
  • cytotoxicity
  • biocompatibility
  • antimicrobial
  • antibiotic
  • therapy
  • disease

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 1066 KiB  
Article
Chemical Characterization and Evaluation of Antimicrobial Properties of the Wild Medicinal Mushroom Ganoderma lucidum Growing in Northern Moroccan Forests
by El Hadi Erbiai, Benoutman Amina, Abbassi Kaoutar, Rabah Saidi, Zouhaire Lamrani, Eugénia Pinto, Joaquim C. G. Esteves da Silva, Abdelfettah Maouni and Luís Pinto da Silva
Life 2023, 13(5), 1217; https://doi.org/10.3390/life13051217 - 19 May 2023
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2892
Abstract
Ganoderma lucidum is an extensively famous medicinal mushroom distributed worldwide. Despite being widely grown in Moroccan forests, there are no studies on its nutritional, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical values. Herein, the objective of this study was to investigate the chemical characterization and antimicrobial properties [...] Read more.
Ganoderma lucidum is an extensively famous medicinal mushroom distributed worldwide. Despite being widely grown in Moroccan forests, there are no studies on its nutritional, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical values. Herein, the objective of this study was to investigate the chemical characterization and antimicrobial properties of G. lucidum methanolic extract. Total phenolic, flavonoid, tannin, ascorbic acid and carotenoid contents were determined by spectrophotometry. The results revealed that the most prevalent bioactive compounds were phenolics and flavonoids, with total values of 154.60 mg GAE/g of dry methanolic extract (dme) and 60.55 mg CE/mg of dme, respectively. A GC–MS analysis identified 80 biologically active molecules, which were mainly divided into the following major groups: sugars (49.49%), organic acids (8.89%), fatty acids (7.75%), amino acids (7.44%), steroids (7.32%), polyphenols (5.92%), and others (13.16%). Additionally, 22 individual phenolic compounds were identified and quantified using HPLC–MS, with emphasis on kaempferol (1714 µg/g of dry weight (dw)), apigenin (1955 µg/g dw) and quercetin (947.2 µg/g dw). The methanolic extract of G. lucidum indicated strong antioxidant capacity by means of the following: DPPH radical-scavenging activity (53.7 µg/mL), β-carotene/linoleate assay (43.75 µg/mL), and reducing power assay (76.62 µg/mL). Furthermore, the extract exhibited potent antimicrobial properties against seven human pathogenic microorganisms, including two bacteria and five fungal strains, at concentrations ranging from 1 to 16 mg/mL. The most sensitive pathogen was Epidermophyton floccosum (MIC = MFC = 1 mg/mL), while Aspergillus fumigatus was the most resistant one (MIC = 16 mg/mL and MFC ≥ 16 mg/mL). Overall, our findings demonstrated valuable nutritional and bioactive compound attributes, and potent antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, of G. lucidum growing in Moroccan forests. Moreover, these findings suggest that the Moroccan mushroom can be extremely useful for the food and medicinal industries to positively affect socioeconomic status. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Cytotoxicity and Virulence of Microorganisms and Their Potential Applications in Biomedicine)
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11 pages, 266 KiB  
Article
Protective and Therapeutic Capacities of Lactic Acid Bacteria Postmetabolites against Koi Herpesvirus Infection In Vitro
by Neli Vilhelmova-Ilieva, Svetla Danova, Zdravka Petrova, Lili Dobreva, Georgi Atanasov, Kapka Mancheva and Lora Simeonova
Life 2023, 13(3), 739; https://doi.org/10.3390/life13030739 - 9 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2037
Abstract
Background: The accumulation of data on beneficial biological effects of probiotics and their metabolic products favors their potential use in the prevention and treatment of various malaises. Methods: Nine postmetabolites from Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) of human or dairy origin and their antiviral [...] Read more.
Background: The accumulation of data on beneficial biological effects of probiotics and their metabolic products favors their potential use in the prevention and treatment of various malaises. Methods: Nine postmetabolites from Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) of human or dairy origin and their antiviral activity were studied using the cytopathic effect inhibition test. The virucidal capacity, their influence on the adsorption stage of Koi herpes virus (KHV) and their preventive role against subsequent viral challenge on intact Common carp brain (CCB) cells were also determined by titration assay. Residual viral infectivity in postmetabolites-treated samples was compared to mock-treated controls and Δlgs were calculated. Results: When administered during KHV replication, the microbial products isolated from Lactiplantibacillus plantarum showed remarkable activity with a selectivity index (SI) between 26.5 and 221.4, as those effects were dependent on the sample-virus incubation time. Postmetabolites from Lactobacillus gasseri and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum also demonstrated significant inhibition of KHV replication with SI of 24 and 16, respectively. The bioactive metabolites isolated from Limosilactobacillus fermentum had a minor effect on the viral replicative cycle. Compounds, produced during the fermentation by lactobacilli, grown on different nutritive media and collected at different time points, significantly inhibited extracellular KHV virions. All investigated postmetabolites remarkably blocked KHV attachment to the host cell (CCB), leading to a drop in viral titers by Δlg = 4.25–5.25, and exerted protective effects on CCB cells before they were subjected to viral infection. Conclusions: Our results open new horizons and promote LAB and their postbiotic products to be used in the prophylaxis and therapy of viral infections. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Cytotoxicity and Virulence of Microorganisms and Their Potential Applications in Biomedicine)
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