Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the important causes of food poisoning and infectious diseases worldwide, it can produce a large number of virulence factors, enhance the colonization ability of the host so that it can quickly colonize and spread on the surface of the objects. Essential oil (EO) is one of the natural products with antimicrobial properties, can be used as an important source of antibacterial agent discovery, and has a broad development prospect. However, the unclear mechanisms of antibacterial action have become an obstacle to its further development and use. Hence, the objective of the present study was to reveal the antibacterial mechanism of EO from Amomum villosum Lour (A villosum Lour) against MRSA using label-free quantitative proteomics, investigate the effect of EO on the bacterial proteome, enzymatic activities and leakage of bacterial intracellular biomacromolecule. Proteomic analysis of MRSA in the presence of EO found that a total of 144 differential expressed proteins (DEPs) between the control and treatment group, in which 42 proteins were distinctly up-regulated and 102 proteins were down-regulated. Besides, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis, determination of cell membrane permeability and apoptosis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations, bacterial surface hydrophobicity, and biofilm formation measurement were performed. Collectively, the above results indicated that the cell membrane damage by EO leads to the loss of membrane integrity and causes leakage of intracellular macromolecular substances, inhibition of protein, and biofilm synthesis. These findings manifested that EO exerts antibacterial effect by multiple avenues and expands our understanding of the antibacterial mechanism, it has potential application value in food preservative and pharmaceutical industries.

The production of fungal metabolites can be remarkably influenced by various cultivation parameters. To explore the biosynthetic potentials of the marine fungus, Neosartorya pseudofischeri, which was isolated from the inner tissue of starfish Acanthaster planci, glycerol-peptone-yeast extract (GlyPY) and glucose-peptone-yeast extract (GluPY) media were used to culture this fungus. When cultured in GlyPY medium, this fungus produced two novel diketopiperazines, neosartins A and B (1 and 2), together with six biogenetically-related known diketopiperazines,1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-2, 3-dimethyl-1,4-dioxopyrazino[1,2-a]indole (3), 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-2-methyl-3-methylen e-1,4-dioxopyrazino[1,2-a]indole (4), 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-2-methyl-1,3,4-trioxopyrazino[1,2-a] indole (5), 6-acetylbis(methylthio)gliotoxin (10), bisdethiobis(methylthio)gliotoxin (11), didehydrobisdethiobis(methylthio)gliotoxin (12) and N-methyl-1H-indole-2-carboxamide (6). However, a novel tetracyclic-fused alkaloid, neosartin C (14), a meroterpenoid, pyripyropene A (15), gliotoxin (7) and five known gliotoxin analogues, acetylgliotoxin (8), reduced gliotoxin (9), 6-acetylbis(methylthio)gliotoxin (10), bisdethiobis(methylthio) gliotoxin (11) and bis-N-norgliovictin (13), were obtained when grown in glucose-containing medium (GluPY medium). This is the first report of compounds 3, 4, 6, 9, 10 and 12 as naturally occurring. Their structures were determined mainly by MS, 1D and 2D NMR data. The possible biosynthetic pathways of gliotoxin-related analogues and neosartin C were proposed. The antibacterial activity of compounds 2–14 and the cytotoxic activity of compounds 4, 5 and 7–13 were evaluated. Their structure-activity relationships are also preliminarily discussed.

Evodiamine (EVO), an indole alkaloid derived from Rutaceae plants Evodia rutaecarpa (Juss.) Benth.、Evodia rutaecarpa (Juss.) Benth. Var. bodinieri (Dode) Huang or Evodia rutaecarpa (Juss.) Benth. Var. officinalis (Dode) Huang, has anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor activities. Our previous study found that EVO attenuates colitis by regulating gut microbiota and metabolites. However, little is known about its effect on colitis-associated cancer (CAC). In this study, the protective effects of EVO on azoxymethane (AOM)/dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis and tumor mice were observed, and the underlying potential mechanism was clarified. The results suggested that EVO ameliorated AOM/DSS-induced colitis by inhibiting the intestinal inflammation and improving mucosal barrier function. And EVO significantly reduced the number and size of AOM/DSS-induced colorectal tumors along with promoted apoptosis and inhibited proliferation of epithelial cell. Moreover, EVO promoted the enrichment of SCFAs-producing bacteria and reduced the levels of the pro-inflammatory bacteria, which contributes to the changes of microbiota metabolism, especially tryptophan metabolism. Furthermore, inflammatory response (like Wnt signaling pathway、Hippo signaling pathway and IL-17 signaling pathway) were effectively alleviated by EVO. Our study demonstrated that the protective therapeutic action of EVO on CAC is to inhibit the development of intestinal inflammation-cancer by regulating gut microbiota metabolites and signaling pathways of colon intestinal epithelial, which may represent a novel agent for colon cancer prevention via manipulation of gut microbiota.