Brudzynski Katrina
Department of Drug Discovery, Bee-Biomedicals Inc., St. Catharines, ON L2T 3T4, Canada.
Formerly Department of Biological Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON L2T 3T4, Canada.
Antibiotics (Basel). 2021 May 9;10(5):551. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics10050551.
The fundamental feature of "active honeys" is the presence and concentration of antibacterial compounds. Currently identified compounds and factors have been described in several review papers without broader interpretation or links to the processes for their formation. In this review, we indicate that the dynamic, antagonistic/competitive microbe-microbe and microbe-host interactions are the main source of antibacterial compounds in honey. The microbial colonization of nectar, bees and honey is at the center of these interactions that in consequence produce a range of defence molecules in each of these niches. The products of the microbial interference and exploitive competitions include antimicrobial peptides, antibiotics, surfactants, inhibitors of biofilm formation and quorum sensing. Their accumulation in honey by horizontal transfer might explain honey broad-spectrum, pleiotropic, antibacterial activity. We conclude that honey is an ecological reservoir of antibacterial compounds produced by antagonistic microbial interactions in plant nectars, honey and honey bee. Thus, refocusing research on secondary metabolites resulting from these microbial interactions might lead to discovery of new antibacterial compounds in honey that are target-specific, i.e., acting on specific cellular components or inhibiting the essential cellular function.
“活性蜂蜜”的基本特征是抗菌化合物的存在及其浓度。目前已鉴定出的化合物和因素在几篇综述论文中已有描述，但缺乏更广泛的解释或与它们形成过程的联系。在本综述中，我们指出动态的、拮抗/竞争的微生物-微生物和微生物-宿主相互作用是蜂蜜中抗菌化合物的主要来源。花蜜、蜜蜂和蜂蜜中的微生物定殖处于这些相互作用的中心，这些相互作用进而在每个生态位中产生一系列防御分子。微生物干扰和剥削性竞争的产物包括抗菌肽、抗生素、表面活性剂、生物膜形成抑制剂和群体感应抑制剂。它们通过水平转移在蜂蜜中的积累可能解释了蜂蜜的广谱、多效性抗菌活性。我们得出结论，蜂蜜是植物花蜜、蜂蜜和蜜蜂中由拮抗微生物相互作用产生的抗菌化合物的生态储存库。因此，将研究重点重新聚焦于这些微生物相互作用产生的次生代谢产物，可能会导致在蜂蜜中发现新的具有靶点特异性的抗菌化合物，即作用于特定细胞成分或抑制基本细胞功能。
