Manuka Honey: Sweet to Us, Bitter to BacteriaRing-Vaccination Strategy: Does it work?
Written by Erica Wang
Edited by Christine Yee
Jan 23rd 2022
Edited by Christine Yee
Jan 23rd 2022
Honey is a great sweet treat, but what if it could also be used to treat wounds and kill bacteria? Manuka honey, a medical grade honey made from the nectar of tea trees in New Zealand and Australia, can do just that. While honey normally gains some antibacterial properties from hydrogen peroxide production, manuka honey obtains most of its antibacterial properties from a chemical known as methylglyoxal (Barrell, 2017). With the rise of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, alternatives to traditional antibiotics need to be looked into. Researchers from Cardiff Metropolitan University sought to understand the mechanisms that make manuka honey effective against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a notoriously difficult bacteria to treat (Jenkins et al., 2013).
The researchers analyzed how MRSA’s protein and gene expression were affected by a bactericidal concentration of manuka honey. Several genes were found to have lower expression when exposed to manuka honey. Among them were genes responsible for alpha-haemolysin (hla), histidine kinase (saeS and saeR), and fibronectin-binding protein (fnb) production (Jenkins et al., 2013). All these proteins are important for biofilm formation. Biofilms are large communities of bacteria that live together and act as protection from outside forces (Dufour et al., 2010). When MRSA cannot form biofilms, it will be less likely for infections to occur and could make the bacteria more vulnerable to medical treatments.
There was also decreased expression of phosphoglucosamine mutase (GlmM), a necessary protein for a peptidoglycan precursor (Jenkins et al., 2013). Peptidoglycan is an essential component of bacterial cell walls. Since MRSA cells have many layers of peptidoglycan surrounding the cell wall, a lack of peptidoglycan would be analogous to a wall with missing bricks. Therefore, a lack of GlmM severely reduces the bacterium’s ability to function. Other noteworthy genes that were under-expressed were genes involved in quorum sensing and the Krebs cycle, the second stage of respiration that harvests energy from organic compounds.
The topic of antibacterial substances continues to be prevalent in today’s research. There is still much to learn about how bacteria respond to different antibiotics. Although the analysis performed by Jenkins et al. was promising, samples were taken solely from MRSA cultures grown in the controlled setting of a laboratory. The results that would come from MRSA infecting a patient have yet to be thoroughly explored. How amazing would it “bee” to use honey to dress wounds and prevent bacterial growth!
Works Cited
Barrell, A. (2017, July 10). Is Manuka honey really a superfood? Medical News Today. Retrieved October 15, 2021, from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318298#Qualities-of-Manuka-honey.
Dufour, D., Leung, V. and Lévesque, C.M. (2010), Bacterial biofilm. Endod Topics, 22: 2-16. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1601-1546.2012.00277.x
Jenkins, R., Burton, N., & Cooper, R. (2013). Proteomic and genomic analysis of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) exposed to manuka honey in vitro demonstrated down-regulation of virulence markers. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 69(3), 603–615. https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/dkt430
Image Source: “Hand holding a spoon of liquid honey over a Manuka honey jar” by Marco Verch licensed under CC BY 2.0.