Evaluation of venomous extracts from ants honey bees and wasps for antibacterial activity

Abstract

The rising prevalence of bacterial illnesses and the rapid growth of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial pathogens indicate an urgent necessity for effective antibacterial medicines. To eradicate this problem, it is important to change treatment strategies and use natural moieties that possess growth inhibition potential of bacteria. In this work, we investigated the venomous extracts of ants, bees and wasps which showed antibacterial activity and generation of oxidative stress against bacterial pathogens. In addition, LC-MS/MS and FTIR based biophysical characterization of the venomous extracts was done. In this study, we demonstrated that venomous extract of honey bees effectively inhibited the bacterial survival followed by wasps and least by ants extract. To conclude, findings of the present study provide evidence that ants, bees and wasps venomous extracts exert antibacterial effect against Gram-negative bacterial pathogens E. coli and P. aeruginosa which further postulates additional studies for deciphering the mechanism of action. The findings of the present study may partially explain the variation in functional activity of the honey bee products in the experimental studies. It is noteworthy that antibiotics may be effective results when given in combination with the insect venoms or venom derived moieties. Thus, using combination approach may bring up potential antibacterial candidates for life-threatening bacterial pathogens. This could serve to bridge the gap in the current paradigm of antibiotic resistance and open research avenues for other insect venom peptide-based options for fighting bacterial pathogens. newline