Rosmarinus officinalis L. (Rosemary) Extracts Containing Carnosic Acid and Carnosol are Potent Quorum Sensing Inhibitors of Staphylococcus aureus Virulence - PubMed (original) (raw)

Rosmarinus officinalis L. (Rosemary) Extracts Containing Carnosic Acid and Carnosol are Potent Quorum Sensing Inhibitors of Staphylococcus aureus Virulence

Seitaro Nakagawa et al. Antibiotics (Basel). 2020.

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic pathogen and a common cause of skin infection. S. aureus also plays a role in the pathogenesis of the chronic inflammatory skin disease, atopic dermatitis. S. aureus virulence involves activation of the quorum sensing agr operon. In this paper, we show that the diterpene carnosic acid, present in R. officinalis L. (rosemary) leaves, is a specific inhibitor of S. aureus agr expression as low as 5 μM. Carnosol and rosmarinic acid are two other phytochemicals present in rosemary leaves. Carnosol, but not rosmarinic acid, is also a potent agr expression inhibitor. Natural rosemary extracts containing carnosic acid and carnosol inhibit S. aureus agr expression, both in luciferase reporter strains and in wild type strains isolated from patients with atopic dermatitis. Specific inhibition of S. aureus virulence using topical formulations of rosemary extract may offer a practical approach to preventing and treating flares of atopic dermatitis.

Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus; agr; anti-virulence therapy; atopic dermatitis; quorum sensing inhibition; skin microbiome.

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Conflict of interest statement

GGH is a full-time employee of Amway Corporation, Ada, MI.

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Major phytochemicals in rosemary.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Effect of (A) carnosic acid (CA), (B) carnosol (CS) (C) rosmarinic acid (RA) on AIP-induced S. aureus agr RNAIII gene expression relative to total bacterial density (OD600). (D) Effect of carnosic acid (CA) on _psm_α gene expression. Data are presented as mean ± SD. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Dose response of AIP-induced RNAIII inhibition by rosemary extracts C1–C9 ((A–I), respectively). See Table 1 for carnosic acid, carnosol and rosmarinic acid concentrations in each extract. Data are presented as mean ± SD. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.

Figure 4

Figure 4

qPCR determination of (A) RNAIII and (B) psmα gene expression inhibition by (left to right) carnosic acid (CA), carnosol (CS) and rosemary extract (C1) in an AD clinical strain of S. aureus. Bars represents mean of each group. *p < 0.05, by Mann–Whitney two-tailed _t_-test. n.s., not significant.

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