Fatty Acid Methyl Esters From the Coral-Associated Bacterium Inhibit Virulence and Biofilm Phenotypes in Multidrug Resistant : An Approach.

In an attempt to study the antibacterial, antivirulence and antibiofilm potentials of bacteria residing the tissue and surface mucus layers of the pristine corals, we screened a total of 43 distinct bacterial morphotypes from the coral sp. Among the isolates, strain CBMGL12 with showed antibacterial, antivirulence and antibiofilm activity against multidrug resistant pathogenic strains of (reference strain: MTCC96; community-acquired methicillin resistant strain: CA-MRSA). Extracellular products (ECP) from the coral-associated bacterium were solvent extracted, fractionated by chromatographic techniques such as silica column and HPLC-UV with concomitant bioassays guiding the fractionation of metabolites. Identification of bioactive chemical moieties was performed by FT-IR analysis, GC-MS/MS equipped with NIST library, H and C NMR spectral studies. We report the differential production of extracellular and cell-associated virulence and biofilm phenotypes in multi-drug resistant strains of , post-treatment with the ECP containing aromatic fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) such as methyl benzoate and methyl phenyl acetate produced by a coral-associated bacterium. In conclusion, this study has identified antibacterial, antibiofilm and antivirulent FAME from the coral-associated for its ability to attenuate virulence and biofilms phenotypes in multi-drug resistant pathogenic strains of