Aqawi Muna, Gallily Ruth, Sionov Ronit Vogt, Zaks Batya, Friedman Michael, Steinberg Doron
The Biofilm Research Laboratory, The Faculty of Dental Medicine, The Institute of Dental Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
The Lautenberg Center for General and Tumor Immunology, The Hadassah Medical School, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
Front Microbiol. 2020 May 7;11:858. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.00858. eCollection 2020.
Cannabigerol (CBG) is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid naturally present in trace amounts in the Cannabis plant. So far, CBG has been shown to exert diverse activities in eukaryotes. However, much less is known about its effects on prokaryotes. In this study, we investigated the potential role of CBG as an anti-biofilm and anti-quorum sensing agent against . Quorum sensing (QS) is a cell-to-cell communication system among bacteria that involves small signaling molecules called autoinducers, enabling bacteria to sense the surrounding environment. The autoinducers cause alterations in gene expression and induce bioluminescence, pigment production, motility and biofilm formation. The effect of CBG was tested on grown under planktonic and biofilm conditions. CBG reduced the QS-regulated bioluminescence and biofilm formation of at concentrations not affecting the planktonic bacterial growth. CBG also reduced the motility of in a dose-dependent manner. We further observed that CBG increased expression and activity, with a concomitant 80% downregulation of the gene. Exogenous addition of autoinducers could not overcome the QS-inhibitory effect of CBG, suggesting that CBG interferes with the transmission of the autoinducer signals. In conclusion, our study shows that CBG is a potential anti-biofilm agent via inhibition of the QS cascade.
大麻二酚（CBG）是一种天然存在于大麻植物中的非精神活性大麻素，含量极少。到目前为止，CBG已被证明在真核生物中具有多种活性。然而，人们对其对原核生物的影响知之甚少。在本研究中，我们研究了CBG作为抗生物膜和抗群体感应剂对……的潜在作用。群体感应（QS）是细菌之间的一种细胞间通讯系统，涉及称为自诱导物的小信号分子，使细菌能够感知周围环境。自诱导物会导致基因表达改变，并诱导生物发光、色素产生、运动性和生物膜形成。在浮游和生物膜条件下生长的……上测试了CBG的效果。CBG在不影响浮游细菌生长的浓度下降低了QS调节的生物发光和……的生物膜形成。CBG还以剂量依赖的方式降低了……的运动性。我们进一步观察到，CBG增加了……的表达和活性，同时……基因下调了80%。外源添加自诱导物无法克服CBG的QS抑制作用，这表明CBG干扰了自诱导物信号的传递。总之，我们的研究表明，CBG通过抑制QS级联反应是一种潜在的抗生物膜剂。
