Comprehensive analysis of temporal alterations in cellular proteome of Bacillus subtilis under curcumin treatment

PLoS One. 2015 Apr 14;10(4):e0120620. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0120620. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Curcumin is a natural dietary compound with antimicrobial activity against various gram positive and negative bacteria. This study aims to investigate the proteome level alterations in Bacillus subtilis due to curcumin treatment and identification of its molecular/cellular targets to understand the mechanism of action. We have performed a comprehensive proteomic analysis of B. subtilis AH75 strain at different time intervals of curcumin treatment (20, 60 and 120 min after the drug exposure, three replicates) to compare the protein expression profiles using two complementary quantitative proteomic techniques, 2D-DIGE and iTRAQ. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive longitudinal investigation describing the effect of curcumin treatment on B. subtilis proteome. The proteomics analysis revealed several interesting targets such UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 1-carboxyvinyltransferase 1, putative septation protein SpoVG and ATP-dependent Clp protease proteolytic subunit. Further, in silico pathway analysis using DAVID and KOBAS has revealed modulation of pathways related to the fatty acid metabolism and cell wall synthesis, which are crucial for cell viability. Our findings revealed that curcumin treatment lead to inhibition of the cell wall and fatty acid synthesis in addition to differential expression of many crucial proteins involved in modulation of bacterial metabolism. Findings obtained from proteomics analysis were further validated using 5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazolium chloride (CTC) assay for respiratory activity, resazurin assay for metabolic activity and membrane integrity assay by potassium and inorganic phosphate leakage measurement. The gene expression analysis of selected cell wall biosynthesis enzymes has strengthened the proteomics findings and indicated the major effect of curcumin on cell division.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology*
  • Bacillus subtilis / drug effects*
  • Bacillus subtilis / genetics
  • Bacillus subtilis / growth & development
  • Bacillus subtilis / metabolism
  • Bacillus subtilis / ultrastructure
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics
  • Cell Wall / metabolism
  • Computer Simulation
  • Curcumin / pharmacology*
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional / methods
  • Fatty Acids / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / drug effects
  • Metabolic Networks and Pathways / drug effects
  • Models, Biological
  • Peptidoglycan / metabolism
  • Phosphates / metabolism
  • Potassium / metabolism
  • Proteome / drug effects*
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / methods
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry / methods
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Fatty Acids
  • Peptidoglycan
  • Phosphates
  • Proteome
  • Curcumin
  • Potassium

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a start-up grant 09IRCC007 from the IIT Bombay to Sanjeeva Srivastava and grant from Department of Science and Technology, Government of India to Dulal Panda. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.