Name: systematic approach to identify novel antimicrobial and antibiofilm molecules from plants' extracts and fractions to prevent dental caries
Uploaded: 2021-03-31T12:30:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Systematic Approach to Identify Novel Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Molecules from Plants' Extracts and Fractions to Prevent Dental Caries Video at JoVE.com

We express our gratitude to N&#250;cleo de Bioensaios, Bioss&#237;ntese e Ecofisiologia de Produtos Naturais (NuBBE) of the Chemistry Institute of UNESP, Araraquara/SP for providing the laboratories for preparing plant material. We also thank the Applied Microbiology Laboratory of the Department of Dental Materials and Prosthodontics, UNESP, Araraquara/SP. This research was supported by a research grant from the S&#227;o Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP #2013/07600&#8211;3 to AJC) and scholarships plus overhead funds (FAPESP #2017/07408&#8211;6 and FAPESP #2019/23175-7 to SMR; #2011/21440&#8211;3 and #2012/21921&#8211;4 to PCPB). The National Council for Scientific and Technological Development in association with FAPESP provided additional support (INCT CNPq #465637/2014&#8211;0 and FAPESP #2014/50926&#8211;0 to AJC).

1. Collection of Plant Material
<ol>
	<li>Plant material
	<ol>
		<li>Record the access to the plant material on electronic platforms that regulate access to genetic heritage in the country where the collection will take place. For example, in Brazil, register with the National System for the Management of Genetic Heritage and Associated Traditional Knowledge &#8211; SisGen (website https://sisgen.gov.br/paginas/login.aspx).</li>
		<li>Collect samples of the plant material of interest (e.g., leaves, stems, roots, flower...

The main challenges related to the work with natural crude extracts comprise their complex composition and the inadequacies of classic bio-guided isolation studies. Although this process is slow, it is effective and has led to major findings in NP research. To rationalize, prioritization-driven studies are needed to rationalize. Thus, the use of modern chemical profiling approaches for the analysis of CE and dereplication before isolation are important to characterize the studied material and especially useful to avoid r...

The earliest models of medicine used in societies were based on natural products (NPs). Since then, humans have been searching for new chemicals in nature that can be transformed into drugs1. This search caused a continuous improvement of technologies and methods for ethnobotanical screening1,2,3. NPs offer a rich source of structurally diverse substances, with a wide range of biological activities useful for developing alternative or adjuvant therapies. However, the inherent complex plant matrix makes the isolation and identification of the active compounds a challenging and time-consuming task4.
NPs-based drugs or formulations can be used to prevent and/or treat several conditions affecting oral, including dental caries4. Dental caries, one of the most prevalent chronic diseases globally, derives from the interaction of sugar-rich diet and microbial biofilms (dental plaque) formed on the tooth surface that leads to demineralization caused by organic acids derived from microbial metabolism, and if not treated, leads to teeth loss5,6. Although other microorganisms may be associated7, Streptococcus mutans is a critical cariogenic bacterium because it is acidogenic, aciduric, and an extracellular matrix builder. This species encodes multiple exoenzymes (e.g., glycosyltransferases or Gtfs) that use sucrose as a substrate8 to build the extracellular matrix rich in exopolysaccharides, which are a virulence determinant9. Also, the fungus Candida albicans can drive up the production of that extracellular matrix7. Albeit fluoride, administered in various modalities, remains the basis for preventing dental caries10, new approaches are needed as adjuvants to increase its effectiveness. In addition, the available anti-plaque modalities are based on the use of broad-spectrum microbicidal agents (e.g., chlorhexidine)11. As an alternative, NPs are potential therapies for controlling biofilms and preventing dental caries12,13.
The further advance in the discovery of new bioactive compounds from plants includes necessary steps or approaches such as: (i) the use of reliable and reproducible protocols for sampling, considering that plants often show intraspecific variability; (ii) the preparation of comprehensive extracts and their respective fractions in small scale; (iii) the characterization and/or dereplication of their chemical profiles thought the acquisition of multidimensional data such as GC-MS, LC-DAD-MS, or NMR, for example; (iv) the use of viable and high-yield models to assess bioactivity; (v) the selection of potential new hits based on multivariate data analysis or other statistical tools; (vi) to perform the isolation and purification of the targeted compounds or promising candidates; and (vii) the validation of the corresponded biological activities using the isolated compounds2,14.
Dereplication is the process of rapidly identifying known compounds in crude extract and allows differentiating novel compounds from those that have already been studied. Besides, this process prevents isolation when bioactivity has already been described for certain compounds, and it is particularly helpful to detect &#8220;frequent hitters&#8221;. It has been used in different untargeted workflows ranging from major compound identification or the acceleration of activity-guided fractionation up to the chemical profiling of collections of extracts. It can be fully integrated with metabolomic studies for the untargeted chemical profiling of CE or the targeted identification of metabolites. All of this ultimately leads to prioritizing extracts before the isolation procedures1,15,16,17.
Therefore, in the present manuscript, we describe a systematic approach to identify antimicrobial and antibiofilm molecules from plant extracts and fractions. It includes four multidisciplinary steps: (1) collection of plant material; (2) preparation of crude extracts (CE) and fractions (CEF), followed by their chemical profile analysis; (3) bioassays; and (4) biological and chemical data analyses (Figure 1). Thus, we present the protocol developed to analyze of the antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities of Casearia sylvestris extracts and fractions against Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans13, as well as the procedures for the phytochemical characterization and data analysis. For simplicity, the focus here is to demonstrate the approach for screening natural compounds using the bacterium.
<img alt="Figure 1" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/61773/61773fig01v2.jpg" /> 
Figure 1: Flow-chart of the Systematic Approach to identify active molecules from plants extracts and fractions. <a href="https://www.jove.com/files/ftp_upload/61773/61773fig01v2large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>96-well microplates&#160;</td>
			<td>Kasvi</td>
			<td>Flat bottom</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Activated carbon</td>
			<td>LABSYNTH</td>
			<td>Clean up and/or fractionation step</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Analytical mill</td>
			<td>Ika LabortechniK</td>
			<td>Model A11 Basic</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Blood agar plates</td>
			<td>Laborclin</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Chromatographic column C18</td>
			<td>Phenomenex Kinetex</td>
			<td>150 &#215; 2.1 mm, 2.6 &#181;m, 100&#194;</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dimethyl sulfoxide&#160;</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>Vehicle solution</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>ELISA plate reader</td>
			<td>Biochrom Ez</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ethanol</td>
			<td>J. T. Baker</td>
			<td>For extraction and fractionation steps, and mobile phase composition</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ethanol</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>Vehicle solution</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ethyl acetate</td>
			<td>J. T. Baker</td>
			<td>Fractionation step</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>GraphPad Software</td>
			<td>La Jolla</td>
			<td>GraphPad Prism7</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Hexane</td>
			<td>J. T. Baker</td>
			<td>Fractionation step</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Incubator</td>
			<td>Thermo Scientific</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Isopropanol</td>
			<td>J. T. Baker</td>
			<td>For extraction step</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Lyophilizer (a freeze dryer)</td>
			<td>Savant</td>
			<td>Modulyo</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Nylon Millipore</td>
			<td>LAC</td>
			<td>0.22 &#181;m x 13 mm</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Orbital shaker</td>
			<td>Quimis</td>
			<td>Model G816&#8201;M20</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Polyamide solid phase extraction cartridge</td>
			<td>Macherey-Nagel</td>
			<td>Clean up and/or fractionation step</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Silica gel</td>
			<td>Merck</td>
			<td>40&#8211;63&#8201;&#956;m, 60&#8201;&#194;</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sodium Chloride (NaCl)</td>
			<td>Synth</td>
			<td>0,89% in water</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Solid phase extraction cartridges (SPE)</td>
			<td>Macherey-Nagel</td>
			<td>Clean up and/or fractionation step</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tryptone</td>
			<td>Difco</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>UHPLC-DAD</td>
			<td>Dionex</td>
			<td>Ultimate 3000 RS</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ultrasonic bath</td>
			<td>UNIQUE</td>
			<td>Model USC 2800</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Yeast extract</td>
			<td>Difco</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

systematic approach to identify novel antimicrobial and antibiofilm molecules from plants' extracts and fractions to prevent dental caries

Natural products provide structurally different substances, with a myriad of biological activities. However, the identification and isolation of active compounds from plants are challenging because of the complex plant matrix and time-consuming isolation and identification procedures. Therefore, a stepwise approach for screening natural compounds from plants, including the isolation and identification of potentially active molecules, is presented. It includes the collection of the plant material; preparation and fractionation of crude extracts; chromatography and spectrometry (UHPLC-DAD-HRMS and NMR) approaches for analysis and compounds identification; bioassays (antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities; bacterial &#34;adhesion strength&#34; to the salivary pellicle and initial glucan matrix treated with selected treatments); and data analysis. The model is simple, reproducible, and allows high-throughput screening of multiple compounds, concentrations, and treatment steps can be consistently controlled. The data obtained provide the foundation for future studies, including formulations with the most active extracts and/or fractions, isolation of molecules, modeling molecules to specific targets in microbial cells and biofilms. For example, one target to control cariogenic biofilm is to inhibit the activity of Streptococcus mutans glucosyltransferases that synthesize the extracellular matrix&#8217; glucans. The inhibition of those enzymes prevents the biofilm build-up, decreasing its virulence.

We provide an example of using a systematic approach to screen the biological activity of plant extracts and fractions to identify potentially active molecules for possible new anti-caries therapies: antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities of Casearia sylvestris extracts from distinct Brazilian biomes against Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans13.
Background 
Complex interactions between specific oral microorganism...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Systematic Approach to Identify Novel Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Molecules from Plants' Extracts and Fractions to Prevent Dental Caries Video at JoVE.com

Systematic Approach to Identify Novel Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Molecules from Plants' Extracts and Fractions to Prevent Dental Caries Video (Video) | JoVE

Natural products represent promising starting points for the development of new drugs and therapeutic agents. However, due to the high chemical diversity, finding new therapeutic compounds from plants is a challenging and time-consuming task. We describe a simplified approach to identify antimicrobial and antibiofilm molecules from plant extracts and fractions.

Systematic Approach to Identify Novel Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Molecules from Plants' Extracts and Fractions to Prevent Dental Caries

Natural products provide structurally different substances, with a myriad of biological activities. However, the identification and isolation of active ...

Research

Education

JoVE Core

JoVE Journal

Pharmacology

Biology

Unit 1

General Pharmacological Principles

SCIENTISTS IN ACTION

Production of Xenopus tropicalis Egg Extracts to Identify Microtubule-associated RNAs

Production of Xenopus tropicalis Egg Extracts to Identify Microtubule-associated RNAs Video (Video) | JoVE

Many  organisms localize mRNAs to specific subcellular destinations to spatially and  temporally control gene expression. Recent studies have demonstrated ...

A Quantitative Assay to Study Protein:DNA Interactions, Discover Transcriptional Regulators of Gene Expression, and Identify Novel Anti-tumor Agents

A Quantitative Assay to Study Protein:DNA Interactions, Discover Transcriptional Regulators of Gene Expression, and Identify Novel Anti-tumor Agents Video (Video) | JoVE

Many DNA-binding assays such as electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA), chemiluminescent assays, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-based assays, ...

Capture Compound Mass Spectrometry - A Powerful Tool to Identify Novel c-di-GMP Effector Proteins

Capture Compound Mass Spectrometry - A Powerful Tool to Identify Novel c-di-GMP Effector Proteins Video (Video) | JoVE

Considerable progress has been made during the last decade towards the identification and characterization of enzymes involved in the synthesis ...

Silencing of BRCA2 to Identify Novel BRCA2-regulated Biological Functions in Cultured Human Cells

Silencing of BRCA2 to Identify Novel BRCA2-regulated Biological Functions in Cultured Human Cells Video (Video) | JoVE

Silencing of the tumor suppressor protein BRCA2 and its detection by conventional biochemical analyses represent a great technical challenge owing to the ...

Procedure to Evaluate the Efficiency of Flocculants for the Removal of Dispersed Particles from Plant Extracts

Procedure to Evaluate the Efficiency of Flocculants for the Removal of Dispersed Particles from Plant Extracts Video (Video) | JoVE

Plants are important to humans not only because they provide commodities such as food, feed and raw materials, but increasingly because they can be used ...

Production and Visualization of Bacterial Spheroplasts and Protoplasts to Characterize Antimicrobial Peptide Localization

Production and Visualization of Bacterial Spheroplasts and Protoplasts to Characterize Antimicrobial Peptide Localization Video (Video) | JoVE

The use of confocal microscopy as a method to assess peptide localization patterns within bacteria is commonly inhibited by the resolution limits of ...

Forward Genetic Screen Using Transgenic Calcium Reporter Aequorin to Identify Novel Targets in Calcium Signaling

Forward Genetic Screen Using Transgenic Calcium Reporter Aequorin to Identify Novel Targets in Calcium Signaling Video (Video) | JoVE

Forward genetic screens have been important tools in the unbiased identification of genetic components involved in several biological pathways. The basis ...

Isolation of High Quality Murine Atrial and Ventricular Myocytes for Simultaneous Measurements of Ca2+ Transients and L-Type Calcium Current

Isolation of High Quality Murine Atrial and Ventricular Myocytes for Simultaneous Measurements of Ca2+ Transients and L-Type Calcium Current Video (Video) | JoVE

Mouse models play a crucial role in arrhythmia research and allow studying key mechanisms of arrhythmogenesis including altered ion channel function and ...

Profiling of H3K4me3 Modification in Plants using Cleavage under Targets and Tagmentation

Profiling of H3K4me3 Modification in Plants using Cleavage under Targets and Tagmentation Video (Video) | JoVE

Epigenomic regulation at the chromatic level, including DNA and histone modifications, behaviors of transcription factors, and non-coding RNAs with their ...

Reverse Genetic Approach to Identify Regulators of Pigmentation using Zebrafish

Reverse Genetic Approach to Identify Regulators of Pigmentation using Zebrafish Video (Video) | JoVE

Melanocytes are specialized neural crest-derived cells present in the epidermal skin. These cells synthesize melanin pigment that protects the genome from ...