Resveratrol-Potential Antibacterial Agent against Foodborne Pathogens

Abstract

Bacterial foodborne pathogens are a significant health burden and the recent emergence of pathogenic resistant strains due to the excessive use of antibiotics makes it more difficult to effectively treat infections as a result of contaminated food. Awareness of this impending health crisis has spurred the search for alternative antimicrobials with natural plant antimicrobials being among the more promising candidates as these substances have good acceptability and likely low toxicity levels as they have long been used in traditional medicines. Resveratrol (3,5,4'-trihydroxystilbene) is a naturally occurring stilbenoid which has been gaining considerable attention in medical field due to its diverse biological activities - it has been reported to exhibit antioxidant, cardioprotective, anti-diabetic, anticancer, and antiaging properties. Given that resveratrol is phytoalexin, with increased synthesis in response to infection by phytopathogens, there has been interest in exploring its antimicrobial activity. This review aims to provide an overview of the published data on the antibacterial activity of resveratrol against foodborne pathogens, its mechanisms of action as well as its possible applications in food packing and processing; in addition we also summarize the current data on its potential synergism with known antibacterials and future research and applications.

Keywords: antibacterial; antibiofilm; foodborne; pathogens; resveratrol.

Figure 1

The overview of resveratrol as antibacterial agent against foodborne pathogens. (A) Resveratrol is found abundantly in the skin and leaves of grapevine (Vitis vinifera). (B) Resveratrol has been shown to exhibit promising antibacterial properties against variety of foodborne pathogens such as E. coli, Listeria sp., Staphylococcus aureus, Campylobacter sp. and Vibrio sp. (C) Resveratrol was shown to inhibit electron transport chain (ETC) and F0F1-ATPase, leading to reduced cellular energy production and thus proliferation of the microorganisms. (D) Resveratrol binds to Cu(II) to form a Cu(II)-peroxide complex, which binds DNA to form DNA-resveratrol-Cu(II) ternary complex, leading to DNA scission and breakage. (E) Resveratrol inhibits cell division by downregulating FtsZ gene which responsible for the formation of Z-ring required for prokaryotic cell division. (F) Resveratrol was demonstrated to be an effective antibiofilm and antiquorum sensing agent that prevents biofilm formation as well as disrupts the pre-formed biofilm. Overall, resveratrol could be developed into biopharmaceutical product as well as food preservatives in food industry to cope with food spoilage and foodborne outbreaks.

Figure 2

Chemical structures of (A) trans-resveratrol and (B) cis-resveratrol.

Figure 3

Schematic diagram of resveratrol pro-oxidant activity (de la Lastra and Villegas, 2007).

Figure 4

Chemical structures of (A) isoresveratrol and (B) dihydroresveratrol.