The Antivirulence Activity of Umbelliferone and Its Protective Effect against-Infected Grass Carp.

Abstract

is an important pathogen that mainly harms aquatic animals and has exhibited resistance to a variety of antibiotics. Here, to seek an effective alternative for antibiotics, the effects of umbelliferone (UM) at sub-MICs onvirulence factors and the quorum-sensing system were studied. Subsequently, RNA sequencing was employed to explore the potential mechanisms for the antivirulence activity of umbelliferone. Meanwhile, the protective effect of umbelliferone on grass carp infected withwas studied in vivo. Our results indicated that umbelliferone could significantly inhibitvirulence such as hemolysis, biofilm formation, swimming and swarming motility, and their quorum-sensing signals AHL and AI-2. Transcriptomic analysis showed that umbelliferone downregulated expression levels of genes related to exotoxin, the secretory system (T2SS and T6SS), iron uptake, etc. Animal studies demonstrated that umbelliferone could significantly improve the survival of grass carps infected with, reduce the bacterial load in the various tissues, and ameliorate cardiac, splenic, and hepatopancreas injury. Collectively, umbelliferone can reduce the pathogenicity ofand is a potential drug for treatinginfection.