Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are decondensed chromatin networks released by neutrophils that can trap and kill pathogens but can also paradoxically promote biofilms. The mechanism of NET functions remains ambiguous, at least in part, due to their complex and variable compositions. To unravel the antimicrobial performance of NETs, a minimalistic NET-like synthetic structure, termed "microwebs," is produced by the sonochemical complexation of DNA and histone. The prepared microwebs have structural similarity to NETs at the nanometer to micrometer dimensions but with well-defined molecular compositions. Microwebs prepared with different DNA to histone ratios show that microwebs trap pathogenic Escherichia coli in a manner similar to NETs when the zeta potential of the microwebs is positive. The DNA nanofiber networks and the bactericidal histone constituting the microwebs inhibit the growth of E. coli. Moreover, microwebs work synergistically with colistin sulfate, a common and a last-resort antibiotic, by targeting the cell envelope of pathogenic bacteria. The synthesis of microwebs enables mechanistic studies not possible with NETs, and it opens new possibilities for constructing biomimetic bacterial microenvironments to better understand and predict physiological pathogen responses.
Source: Advanced Materials
Language: English
Subfield: Immunology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
Awards: Innate Immunity in the Pathogenesis of Lupus and Antiphospholipid Vasculopathy, G2630622505, G3086813145, G3628119775, G3909369580, G3955045954, Antimicrobial mechanisms of action zinc oxide nanoparticles, G574410863, G5883450752, G598467212, G640430542, G7433697189, G765679831, G9000002272, G9000032874, G9000066677, G9000080062, G9000113270, G9000150369, G9000265090, G9525329
OpenAlex ID: W2914853261