title: The molecular mechanism of action of bactericidal gold nanoparticles on Escherichia coli.
abstract: This work examines the molecular mechanism of action of a class of bactericidal gold nanoparticles (NPs) which show potent antibacterial activities against multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria by transcriptomic and proteomic approaches. Gold NPs exert their antibacterial activities mainly by two ways: one is to collapse membrane potential, inhibiting ATPase activities to decrease the ATP level; the other is to inhibit the subunit of ribosome from binding tRNA. Gold NPs enhance chemotaxis in the early-phase reaction. The action of gold NPs did not include reactive oxygen species (ROS)-related mechanism, the cause for cellular death induced by most bactericidal antibiotics and nanomaterials. Our investigation would allow the development of antibacterial agents that target the energy-metabolism and transcription of bacteria without triggering the ROS reaction, which may be at the same time harmful for the host when killing bacteria.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, 2 Si Pailou, Nanjing 210096, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Yuyun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiaoying
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lü
authors.forename: Xingyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018432:Drug Resistance, Multiple / Q000187:drug effects; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D016877:Oxidants / Q000737:chemistry; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D016877:Oxidants; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D006046:Gold; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide