ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbiotechnology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1624564
Revealing the multi-target destruction induced by proanthocyanidins against Acetobacter sp. at the molecular level
Provisionally accepted
Er-Fang Ren1,2Xiaoqin Feng1Yuanxin Feng1
Kai Li1
Xin-An Zeng3Qing-Hui Wen4Jin-Lin Cai3
Zhong Han3Shan Chen1
Debao Niu1*- 1College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
- 2Guangxi Subtropical Crops Research Institute, Nanning 530001, China
- 3School of Food Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China
- 4School of Health, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Proanthocyanidins, which are polyphenolic compounds resulting from the condensation of monomeric flavan-3-ols, exhibit antibacterial activity. This study aimed to investigate the impact of proanthocyanidins on the growth and cell membrane of Acetobacter sp., as well as explore their interaction with intracellular macromolecules to comprehensively elucidate the inhibitory mechanism against Acetobacter sp. The results revealed that proanthocyanidins effectively inhibited the growth of Acetobacter sp., with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 2.5 mg/mL. Proanthocyanidins disrupted the cellular morphology and membrane integrity of Acetobacter sp., and affected the structure of cell membranes by interaction with membrane proteins. Meanwhile, exposure to proanthocyanidins led to an elevation in reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels within Acetobacter sp., causing oxidative damage to the cell membrane. Moreover, there was a modification in the composition of fatty acids within the cell membrane, characterized by an increased proportion of unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs), consequently enhancing membrane fluidity. In addition, proanthocyanidins caused a significant decrease in the activities of Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), and interacted with DNA through groove binding, thereby inhibiting cell function. In conclusion, this study provides evidence that proanthocyanidins can effectively inhibit the growth and reproduction of Acetobacter sp. by destroying cell membranes and affecting intracellular macromolecules.
Keywords: Proanthocyanidins, Cell Membrane, Membrane fatty acid, enzyme activity, Genomic DNA, molecular docking
Received: 08 May 2025; Accepted: 20 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ren, Feng, Feng, Li, Zeng, Wen, Cai, Han, Chen and Niu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Debao Niu, College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.