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As a destructive fungus-like plant pathogen, the oomycete Phytophthora capsici is unable to synthesize its own ergosterol as the potential target of fungicide cinnamaldehyde (CA). In this study, CA exerted efficient inhibitory effects on both mycelial growth (EC50=0.75 mM) and zoospore germination (MIC=0.4 mM) of P. capsici. CA-induced immediate Ca2+ efflux from zoospores could be confirmed by the rapid decrease in intracellular Ca2+ content determined by using Fluo-3 AM and the increase in extracellular Ca2+ concentration determined by using ICP-AES (inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry). Blocking Ca2+ influx with ruthenium red and verapamil led to a higher level of CA-induced Ca2+ efflux, suggesting the simultaneous occurrence of Ca2+ influx along with the Ca2+ efflux under CA exposure. Further results showed that EGTA-induced decrease in intracellular Ca2+ gave rise to the impaired vitality of P. capsici while the addition of exogenous Ca2+ could suppress the growth inhibitory effect of CA. These results suggested that Ca2+ efflux played an important role in CA-induced growth inhibition of P. capsici. The application of 3-phenyl-1-propanal, a CA analog without α,β- unsaturated bond, resulted in a marked Ca2+ influx in zoospores but did not show any growth inhibitory effects. In addition, exogenous cysteine, an antagonist against the Michael addition (the nucleophilic addition of a carbanion or another nucleophile) between CA and its targets, could attenuate CA-induced growth inhibition of P. capsici by suppressing Ca2+ efflux. Our results suggest that CA inhibits the growth of P. capsici by stimulating a transient Ca2+ efflux via Michael addition, which provides important new insights into the antimicrobial action of CA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persisters are tolerant to multiple antibiotics, and widely distributed in bacteria, fungi, parasites, and even cancerous human cell populations, leading to recurrent infections and relapse after therapy. In this study, we investigated the potential of cinnamaldehyde and its derivatives to eradicate persisters in Escherichia coli. The results showed that 200 μg/ml of alpha-bromocinnamaldehyde (Br-CA) was capable of killing all E. coli cells during the exponential phase. Considering the heterogeneous nature of persisters, multiple types of persisters were induced and exposed to Br-CA. Our results indicated that no cells in the ppGpp-overproducing strain or TisB-overexpressing strain survived the treatment of Br-CA although considerable amounts of persisters to ampicillin (Amp) and ciprofloxacin (Cip) were induced. Chemical induction by carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) led to the formation of more than 10% persister to Amp and Cip in the entire population, and Br-CA still completely eradicated them. In addition, the cells in the stationary phase, which are usually highly recalcitrant to antibiotics treatment, were also completely eradicated by 400 μg/ml of Br-CA. Further studies showed that neither thiourea (hydroxyl-radical scavenger) nor DPTA (Fe3+ chelator to block the hydroxyl-radical) affected the bactericidal efficiency of the Br-CA to kill E. coli, indicating a ROS-independent bactericidal mechanism. Taken together, we concluded that Br-CA compound has a novel bactericidal mechanism and the potential to mitigate antibiotics resistance crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aspergillus flavus is a well-known for both crops and human beings. The acquisition of resistance to azoles by A. flavus is leading to more failures occurring in the prevention of infection by A. flavus. In this study, we found that thymol, one of the major chemical constituents of the essential oil of Monarda punctate, had efficient fungicidal activity against A. flavus and led to sporular lysis. Further studies indicated that thymol treatment induced the generation of both ROS and NO in spores, whereas NO accumulation was far later than ROS accumulation in response to thymol. By blocking ROS production with the inhibitors of NADPH oxidase, NO generation was also significantly inhibited in the presence of thymol, which indicated that ROS induced NO generation in A. flavus in response to thymol treatment. Moreover, the removal of either ROS or NO attenuated lysis and death of spores exposed to thymol. The addition of SNP (exogenous NO donor) eliminated the protective effects of the inhibitors of NADPH oxidase on thymol-induced lysis and death of spores. Taken together, it could be concluded that ROS is involved in spore death induced by thymol via the induction of NO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]